Welcome to Your Training Website!
That's not just a name. I constructed this site as a refuge from the vast wasteland of mis-information regarding fitness and strength training all over the internet, and media in general. It is not necessarily the best site on the web (you are, of course, free to your opinion, however!), but it is real; and aimed at YOU. I don't believe in gimmicks and programs with cutesy trademarked names designed to make money off us all.
There is a difference between good information and great information. But I feel there is a bigger difference between good information and mis-information. You need to know what is fact and what is fiction. You may not have time to research and analyze every claim from every schmoe in the biz, but it's my job! Having trained myself for over twenty years, I know personally how myth and fallacy run rampant in the fitness industry (I have often been a victim myself). I don't claim to be the one and only source of truth in the world of strength training; but I want to warn you of those that do.
You'll notice that from time to time some of the experts featured on this website don't exactly concur (at least I hope you'll notice!), but that's where you come in. Your input is invaluable- you are the ones in the trenches everyday! I want this to be the place you turn to get your questions answered. I don't know everything, but I have a desire to learn and pass on knowledge from the brightest minds and most successful trainers and athletes in the world today; people who share that desire. I also welcome your input in the form of stories, training programs, tips, photos, and of course questions; which I hope will shape Your Training Website in the months to come. Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy yourself! - Chris Grantano
While a lot of us are thinking up complex methods and explanations for what it is we do, every once in a while a brilliant man comes along and dumbs everything down for us. I've found that Coach John is usually that man.
The 10 Commandments of Training
by Coach Dan John
"...and Daniel came down from the mountain, yeah, verily, and carried tablets of iron."
- Use whole body lifts, rarely isolate a muscle
- Constantly strive for more weight on the bar and move it faster
- The best anabolic is water
- Did you eat breakfast? If not, don’t ask me anything about nutrition
- If you smoke or don’t wear your seat belt, please don’t tell me the quick lifts are dangerous
- Go heavy, go hard
- Keep it simple. Less is more
- You have to put the bar over your head
- Put the bar on the floor and pick it up a bunch of different ways
- Know and love the roots of your sport
Dan John is the Diocesan Director of Religious Education for the Diocese of Salt Lake City and a full-time "on-line" religious studies instructor for Columbia College of Missouri. He has Masters degrees in history and in religious education, as well as having done intensive work at the American University in Cairo, University of Haifa, and Cornell. Currently, Dan is ranked number one in the world in the Highland Games, ages 45-49, broke the American record in the Weight Pentathlon last August, holds numerous National Championships in weightlifting and throwing and maintains a full-time free internet coaching site at http://danjohn.org.
No Weigh
by Chris Grantano
You’ve heard it said, time and time again. Don’t use the scale. It lies. Don’t do it! Well I’m here to tell you otherwise.
The scale is a tool. It can be a useful tool. Just as a screwdriver would make a terrible hammer, your scale is only as good as the use it is put to. When you eat a large pizza and wash it down with a pitcher of beer, your scale weight goes up. But it does the same thing when you eat a pack of rice cakes and throw back a double water. Does that mean that both are equal nutritionally? Weigh yourself the next day. What do you think would happen? Well, the rice cakes and water probably didn’t stay in there very long, and I’m sure you know what cheese can do. But the changes in your physique are not quite so easy to measure. For example, what else did you eat that day? What else did you do that day? Did you get a haircut? Okay, that last one is a little silly, but you get the point. Your body and your scale weight are dynamic, and that’s just fine. If you weigh yourself and don’t like what appears in that little window, do you over-react? Don’t. That’s what those earlier warnings should say. Don’t live by the scale.
In order for the scale to be a valuable weapon in your arsenal, you must do two things. Firstly, do your level best to find a baseline to represent your actual weight. Be very aware that this is virtually impossible, but do your best anyway. The more regular you are (in all ways) the closer you’ll get. If you eat at the same times every day, great. If you do the opposite at the same times, even better. Especially if that’s first thing in the morning, since that’s when you’ll be weighing. In the morning, on an empty stomach, your probably as close to the same as you’re gonna get. Don’t forget, if you weigh yourself in your drawers on day one, don’t put on your helmet and combat boots on day two. Get as close to baseline as you can every time you weigh.
Secondly, don’t pay attention to what it says. That’s not a typo. Ignore it. Instead, write it in a journal that you keep near the scale. When the time comes to audit your journal, do not look at individual dates as events, ie “the day after the birthday party, I weighed 6 lbs. more. The cake made me gain 6 lbs!”, or “I went out drinking and lost 9 lbs.!”. The correct way to view it is like the stock market. If your weight goes up by half a pound a day for six days, then down by 4 lbs., then back to where it was, that is a trend. You are gaining weight. If your weight stays the same (give or take a pound or two) for three weeks, then shoots up 10 lbs. for a day, and returns to normal, you are just fine.
Realize that these are just examples, you and your doctor can draw your own conclusions about what your records say. What is important is that you understand that the human body is largely water, and very regulated behavior will still yield varying results, but there is no need to be frightened to death of a very helpful piece of equipment in your quest to hit your numerical physical goals.
