That Chip on Your Shoulder

That Chip On Your Shoulder

"Even before I knew I was"

I'm not the best athlete.  I'm not the smartest in any given room.  I'm average by all means.  I will, however, die before letting you outwork me.  

You may be a good athlete.  You may be naturally intelligent.  You may be above average.  Or you may just think you are.

You may be talented, intelligent, and something special.  If you don't believe in your ability, you are a waste.

Cassius Clay.  Muhammad Ali.  When I think of an athlete I'd look up to he is always the one I think of.  He was an athlete of unmatched caliber.  His presence outside the ring was commanding and personable.  He was loved, and he fought for his beliefs.

"Even before I knew I was"

The problem with idols, heroes and role models is they will always fall short of your expectations and when it happens it hits hard.  Even when they pass away your idols may one day be revealed to be less than superhuman.  That is life and it's why you must develop your own moral code of conduct.

Mine has always involved a massive fucking chip that sits right on top of both shoulders.  This is not about picking fights and being aggressive.  This is about knowing what you want, lowering your head, and running through anything that wants to stop you.  This is about bullheadedness.  This is about being unreasonable and demanding perfection.  This is about a fuck you attitude towards life.

"Even before I knew I was"

Stand for something.  Stand the fuck up for something.  If you believe in it and it matters do not let yourself be overrun by those who are simply louder.  Just because they are hierarchically positioned above you does not mean you are less capable.  Be someone, do something, help people along the way.

Respect yourself, you deserve it

Respect others, they deserve it

Give, and give again

You have more to give

You still have more to give

Look out for your people

Solutions, not complaints

Love it, or change it

Be the best at what you do

Study, you're not good enough

Practice, you're not good enough

Work.

Work.

Work.

"Even before I knew I was"

We all start at the beginning.

Before Ali became the champ, he proclaimed himself the champ.  Before he ever knew he was, he proclaimed before the world that he was the greatest in an era of greats.  That is the chip that you have to carry.  That is the fuck you attitude to adopt if you want to succeed at something that is hard.  Yes it is difficult; you bury your frustration.  Yes it's frustrating; you bury your negativity.  It seems impossible; you bury the self doubt.  Don't look back, what's back there for you?  You take your lessons you learn and you move forward.  If you live in the past you will waste the present and you only get one life to live.  Wasted time will never come back around.

Remember through your life, and I'll use Ali as an example, that we do this for the people around us.  Ali destroyed opponents.  He could take you ten rounds or end you in three.  However, outside of the ring he always respected and even loved those around him.  There's a story about Ali.   He was training for a fight at his mountain lodge training center and took a trip to town to visit a young man in the hospital who was dying of a terminal disease.  Ali asked this young man what he could do for him, not IF but WHAT.  The young man requested that Ali win his next fight by knock out and Ali said, "I'll give you a knockout by the third round".  For a child he did not know before that day Ali put his reputation on the line.  He gave his word, he took this child's wish on as his own responsibility, and by all accounts he trained harder following that day. I'll let you look up how that story ends.

Love and respect, but not for his opponent.

Love and respect, but not for what will stop you.

Love and Respect

And a massive fucking chip on your shoulder

Yours in strength,

Nate

Naysayers, Doubters, and Those Who Hold You Back

Naysayers, Doubters, and Those Who

Hold You Back

Sometimes negativity is blatant and obvious. Open judgement regarding your lifestyle, encouraging you to pursue more realistic goals off your chosen path, name calling and belittling all come to mind.  This is easy to recognize but less common.

Other times negativity will be more insidious, and perhaps even disguised behind well meaning colleagues and friends.  A friend who, for all their good intentions and offers of help, cannot be relied upon to follow through and leaves you hanging.  Family who don't openly negate your wishes but subtly push you in a different direction. You may know exactly what I mean.  You may not yet have recognized this in others, but maybe this will cause you to examine your relationships more closely.  Either way it is time to purge them.

Understand this, I have found these people to be too deleterious to be allowed to remain in my life.  That has meant letting some of my closest family members and friends drift away.  And to this day I am happier for it and do not regret it.  Those people took too much energy away from my life, my goals, my dreams.  My goals are inarguably unrealistic but I fully subscribe to demanding the impossible to achieve the best result.  It’s terrifying and the possibility of failure is very real.  Even if you fail pursuing your dream, the journey holds the adventure not the destination.  If it scares you; go after it.

 "If it scares you; go after it."

I want to be a national level weightlifter and strongman.  I want to be one of the strongest competitors in the nation at two sports.  I don’t know if it’s been done before, I don’t know if I can do it, but I mean what I say and I live what I preach and I want you to know that.

There’s a rule of life called the “80/20” rule and it seems to hold true for so many things that it’s applied in business, nutrition, strength training and fitness.  I’m sure it would apply elsewhere but these are the world’s I spend 80% of my time in so that’s what I know.  It goes like this:

“20% of your effort produces 80% of your results”

As an example, in business the rule would predict that 20% of your clients produce 80% of your profit.  It also would predict that 20% of your clients produce 80% of your headaches.  

In strength training it would predict that 20% of your training produces 80% of your results.  It would also predict that 20% of your exercises are producing 80% of your improvements.

In life, and in this context, it would predict that 20% of your friends and family help create 80% of your happiness.  Conversely 20% of those same groups are help create 80% of your unhappiness.  

Don’t get caught up in the math.  This is a sociological principle used to make a point, not to designate 20% of your social circle as expendable.  

Personally there were two people who were extremely negative influences on my professional and personal life.  Emotionally I became dependent on their approval precisely because it was so difficult to attain.  They were also two of the most prominent figures in my life.  It took many years for me to realize just how negatively they were influencing my self image.  I will not lie, cutting them out was one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do.  I will never regret that decision and I will never look back.  Most things worth doing are difficult.

I am unrealistically demanding.  I am an unrealistic perfectionist.  I am an unrealistic hopeful.  Being realistic will not help you find happiness.  Being realistic will make you fall in line with the status quo.  Enjoy your lifelong mediocrity.  OR you can be unrealistic, cut out the negative influences, demand your best at all times and see where it takes you.  

Yours in strength,

Nate Schwartz

Transitioning from CrossFit to Strength Sports

                   Making the Transition from CrossFit to Strength Sports

               

Confession:  I started in CrossFit.  Everyone at my gym knows me as the guy that won't run because it'll mess up his squat day, but there was a time that I was head over heels for the sport of fitness.  You've found your way to this post so I'm going to assume that you're a strength enthusiast or are considering making the transition to strength sports.  My advice: do it.  It's awesome.  There's nothing cooler to me than loading a 300 lb atlas stone and snatching 250lbs.  My girlfriend agrees and if we're being honest we all do it for the ladies so there's that to look forward to.  So, you're thinking about changing from CrossFit to full time strength training?  You, my friend, are in for a rough, rough transition.

However with that transition come so many rewards that it's worth every bit of struggle.  Ever tried a 20 rep squat test at 225?  That's your max squat you say?  Imagine if your max was 400.  How much easier would that 20 rep test be?  Ever had to push your broken down car onto the shoulder of the highway?  Same premise.  Being strong just makes life easier.  

Transitioning from CrossFit to Strength Sports is a bit like graduating from high school and moving to college.  You're in the big leagues now, there are ego's on the line and you're out in a great wide world of knowledge with only (if you're lucky) one or two resources to keep you on track.

Never had to study before because your coach programmed for you, corrected your form, and modulated your intensity with all kinds of neat tricks?  Good luck.  You'd better learn to review videos of yourself every day or get in touch with a coach who knows the ropes.

Used to 60 minutes of intensity 2-3 times a week producing results?  Good luck.  Meal prep alone might take two to three hours a week now.  If you want to get strong you're in it for the long haul, and you're looking at 4 sessions a week at around an hour and a half a pop.

Used to getting participation points for showing up to class even if you half ass the WOD?  Adios to those days.  When someone half asses they're strength work with me they get left out on their own.  Don't waste my time.  You're looking to get strong, which means lifting heavy, often, and in large volume.  Welcome to a whole new world of fatigue and soreness.

If you're still reading then I'll take this moment to acknowledge the fact that you probably already experienced everything I just mentioned.  You're a strength athlete and everything above goes without saying.  The deeper you get into the strength world the more comfortable you'll get with your own style of training.  It may be 5/3/1, Westside, 5 by 5's, the Cube, Olympic Lifting, Strongman etc... but every single training style is designed to get you as strong as possible.  Here are a few things to expect from your new training program.

CrossFit has built up a huge base of conditioning for you which will be helpful, but now you need to prioritize your main lifts.  Any conditioning work has to be accounted for in your program.  Don't fall into the trap of trying to push both your conditioning and your strength at the same time, you're setting yourself up for mediocrity.  Your strength will suffer from the conditioning and your conditioning will suffer because you'll be fatigued from your strength work. 

"I'd rather be dead than average" - Mad Dog Bell.  Don't settle for mediocrity.

You have to eat more. A lot more.  I know you think you're eating enough, but you're not.  Here's my challenge to you.  Get on My Fitness Pal and spend one week tracking how much you eat.  If you're under 1 gram of protein and 2 grams of carbohydrate per pound of bodyweight you're under eating.  Every ex-crossfitter struggles the most with their new nutrition plan.  You will be fluffy for a while.  We can bring your body fat back down later but in the beginning you will have to put on weight.  Those abs will disappear for a bit and your pants will be a little tighter but when you go from deadlifting 225 to 400 it'll be worth it.  As an added bonus all that extra muscle mass is going to look really good in a speedo, even if there's a little extra fluff on top.  Trust me.

This is not the time to think about cutting weight and trying to drop a weight class.  If you're transitioning from CrossFit you're relatively weak compared to the rest of the playing field (even for the weight class below you) and putting on weight is the best way to make up some lost time.  Bigger humans are better able to produce force, and mass moves mass.  Build your body mass to move more weight.

I'm going to say something that may be unnecessary but nonetheless was a mistake I made as a young lifter so I'll touch on it briefly. Let go of your preconceived notions of strength training.  CrossFit has opened the door for you to begin your strength journey and taught you many things.  Don't let those lessons close your mind to what you could learn from veterans in the strength and conditioning world.  Even if you disagree just hold your comments and take a look around you.  If you're surrounded by people stronger than you then maybe it's time to bring back the student mentality.  It's normal to have questions, but be respectful of those who have been in this game longer than you especially when they've clearly been successful. 

That's all I have to say about that.  Welcome to the world of strength my friend and I'm glad you're here.  You're in good company.  This is a journey that will take a lifetime but strength is a gift that keeps on giving.  Keep this in mind as you progress down your new path:

"Strong people are harder to kill than weak people and more useful in general".  

Yours in strength,

Nate Schwartz

If You're a Coach, You Need a Coach

Hey strength seekers,

Tank here.

I consider myself a pretty good coach. I've been in the lifting game a long time and produced a lot of good results for myself and my clients. Since I opened the Primal Strength Gym, I've had a real good run of Strongman finishes. I spend a great deal of time reading and investing in my knowledge so I can keep improving my craft.

But if there is one thing I've learned in my lifting journey, it's that I really don't know much at all. I've learned that if I want to keep progressing, I can't be my own coach and that I need someone smarter than me.

A lot of strength athletes would say, "I am a coach, why the hell would I need to hire a coach for myself?". Or, "If I'm trying to be reputable and credible to potential clients, why would I discredit myself by hiring someone to do what I'm supposed to be so good at?"

 Well that's your ego talking.

Strength athletes, especially amongst business owners, can be very prideful.

Nowhere else in the sports world have I seen some people so resistant to coaching. Everyone wants to be a guru and everyone has the answer. For contrast, in team sports for example, every position player has multiple coaches for the most part.

Look, I know you think you're an awesome coach. For those I surround myself with and follow across the interwebs, I know they are awesome coaches actually. Coach Sean Murphy? Check out his website and all of the transformations he's done. Nate Schwartz? I PR'd my keg clean and press one day when he visited my gym and was helping me out.

I'm sure you've done a lot of great things for great people and you deserve all of the credit for those results. But I can also say with almost certainty that you can't do the same things for yourself, or at least to maximum potential. Outsiders will have an entirely different perspective on your lifting without the inherent biases we carry through our own education and lifting experience. And that outside perspective is healthy...

I recognize the power of an outsider, which is why I hired Mike Westerling to coach me. If you don't know Mike, he's one of the best in the biz. He's had a ton of success in his career, including coaching 5x America's Strongest Woman, 3x Worlds Strongest Woman Kristin Rhodes.

I hired Mike because he trains far differently than I ever have before and how I even train my own people. But his success speaks for itself and it's obvious his methods work.

As a coach it's your job to serve, and you can't truly serve your people if you're only trying to serve yourself and preserve your ego. To get better, you need to learn from those who are better.

It's not a knock on your skills as a coach, and if anything, it's a testament to your self awareness and your willingness to do whatever it takes to be better yourself, which obviously has tremendous upside to your success as a coach and ultimately your clientele...

What is Your Training Philosophy?

What's up strength seekers?

Let me open this with a quick intro of who I am and how I got linked up with the Barbell Strength Sports mastermind, Coach Sean Murphy.

My name is Charles Tankersley, but most people call me Tank. I was a Texas boy for the first 22 years of my life. After graduating from Texas A&M University, I took a government with job with the Department of Defense that took me to Washington DC, overseas to Iraq among other "friendly" places, and ultimately to Central Virginia where I now reside.

I was always an athlete and started to really pound the weights in my early twenties. After years of training myself and helping others, I studied and picked up a few certifications, and trained in a lot of gyms. It didn't take long for me to figure out that to reach my true potential and to train the way I wanted to train, I needed to branch off on my own.

I founded Primal Strength Camp LLC, my online community, and ultimately opened the Primal Strength Gym located in Charlottesville, Virginia. Primal is a performance based facility where everyone is serious about their training, and most importantly getting stronger. We have Strongman competitors, powerlifters, semi-pro athletes, desk jockies, and stay at home moms. Despite our various crafts, we are all united in strength and our burning desire to be ass-kickers.

I myself compete in Strongman, and that's how I had the privilege to meet both Coach Murphy and Nate Schwartz. We all met at the River City Strongman competition in Richmond, VA in 2015. We all competed together that day, had a hell of a time, and have stayed in touch ever since. And now, despite our separation in distance, we are united in this Barbell Strength Sports page. Through the sport of Strongman and lifting (and social media), I also had the privilege to meet Chad Clark, another contributor here that I can always strike up a conversation with, especially reminiscing about the "strength days of old".

Which is what leads me to the post that I'm ultimately going to link at the bottom of this post. You see, Nate, Coach Murphy, Chad, myself; we all have different backgrounds and we all dabble in different things ranging from the Highland Games, to Crossfit, to cross-training, to Strongman. If you follow our Facebook page (Barbell Strength Sports), you'll see that we are always posting from a plethora of different perspectives. You will also see it as each of us posts new blogs here.

While I may have a Strongman background and my training philosophy is very specific, you better believe I can learn and adapt things from what guys like Nate, Sean, and Chad do. As strength seekers, this is what we should all be doing. Too often in today's society, we are quick to write off other people and justify it because "it doesn't fit what I do".

Well, I gotta tell you, Coach Sean Murphy put this site together because we all know this can be an awesome resource and a way for everyone, despite our specialties, to gain and share knowledge, and ultimately improve our end game.

So what is my training philosophy? Do you know yours?

What is Your Training Philosophy?

All the best,

-- Tank

Champions are not Born, They Are MADE!

This morning at the gym, one of my members, Danny brought his son, Jake to train along side of him.
They decided to take part of the Strongman Conditioning workout that I posted earlier this week.  You can view that workout here.

Jake is a 9 year old, 78 pound athlete who enjoys wrestling and football.

Today, he showed up eager for an early, Saturday morning training session.

His peers might of slept in, Jake didn't.

His competition may think they don't need to do anything because the season is over, Jake doesn't buy into that.

Some may say they can't, Jake wears how he feels about that proudly...

Jake came into the gym and wanted to see what he could do.  He wanted to challenge himself, he wanted to do the same workout as his Dad and he WANTED to keep going!

I love having this kind of WANT and Champion spirit in the gym.  

And I think you'd agree with me, no matter what age the athlete, no matter what their purpose, its that drive and passion that brings us all closer together.

People like Jake are welcome to train with me anytime!

Check out Danny and Jake training together in this video.

Get Work Done Everyday Iron Addicts.

Murphy

Upcoming Events and Competitions

Here are upcoming events and competitions that we are aware of to date.  If you are hosting a competition, please let us know and we'll add it to the website.

Upcoming Events - click event for more details

• River City Strongman Challenge - Richmond VA 27AUG16

• Brute Strength Gym's Summer United States Strongman Competition - Norfolk VA 13AUG16

• VA Strongest Man / Woman - Richmond VA 25JUN16

• NC Strongest Man / Woman - Raleigh NC 30APR16

• 6th Annual Capital Classic - Vienna VA 23APR16

• RVA Open and Invitational Weightlifting Competition - Richmond VA 15JUL16

• NAS Mongrel Strength Showdown -Elkton MD 23APR16

Continue to check back to this Blog for updates!