How Much is your body worth?

One of the best strength coaches in the world, Mike Boyle, wrote an article once asking how well would you take care of your car if someone told you at age 16 that it would be your one and only? Chances are you would religiously look after every aspect of that car to make sure it lasts forever. We only get once chance with the body we have, and we often do not look after it or take care of it. We constantly drive our bodies at 100 mph and fill it with the cheapest gas.

Today people always love to find ways to avoid taking care of your body the right way. When you are not satisfied with how you look, people will look for the quickest, easiest short term solution. Buying designer jeans that fit to your new "curves", liposuction, tucks, lifts, plucks, and anything else plastic surgeons can do is like turning up the radio when your hear a funny noise coming from your car. We also look at the luxuries that people indulge in with cars, jewerly, fancy dinners, shoes, etc. Yes you feel cool when you put it on, but people don't think your a better person because you wear Louis Vuitton clothing.

My challenge to you is to eliminate 1-2 of these luxuries that your really don't need or could cut down on, and invest back into your body. Join a gym, hire a knowledgeable trainer, sign up for a team, or all of the above. If you COMMIT, you will see results. Please get some guidance though. You can find good trainers in a small group setting from $30-50 a session. Do that 3 times a week its around $90-150 a week, or $250-$600 per month. Sounds like a lot at first, but how much is your car a month. You'll probably trade that in 2 years from now. You can't trade in your body no matter how fast science is advancing. Look at other luxury expenses like going out to eat, shopping, and cool new gadgets. Lets say you spend $5 a day at Starbucks, 5 days a week ($25). You can make your own coffee (or switch to green tea) and that pretty much pays one of your sessions every week but would get through your day without a vente frapp with soy milk, 3 shots of espresso and no gluton whip cream right?

What I'm trying to get through to you is to really look at how much your body is worth. Look at all the money you spend on materialistic things, yet you often neglect the one thing you can never trade in. It might be hard at first but once you commit to some sweat and hard work, you get a self of accomplishment and efficacy that can't be bought on ebay or even if you have the surgeons from Nip/Tuck.

No More Situps and Crunches!!!

This is my first video, with many to come. This will give you some exercises for your core that will train it they way it was designed to work. I will try and limit further videos to 3-5 minutes i got a little carried away this time but I hope you enjoy.



This is the 2nd video where Bill (13 years old) performing elevated rollouts.




Remember to start basic first then build strength. Any questions post a comment here or email me at caseywheel@gmail.com

"Quickness Under Control"

"Quickness under control is the most valuable physical aspect of any sport" John Wooden

John Wooden is one of, if not the best coach of all time. I re-discovered this quote recently and have decided to base my philosophy of training around this idea. In any sport whether it's tennis, basketball, golf, etc. you must be under control. This goes for both physical and mental realms. Physically you must manage your center of gravity (COG). While training or playing your sport notice where you feel out of position and where you could adjust your COG. Mentally you must stay on an even keel to stay in control. Don't get caught up in the hype or with your emotions. Preparing mentally with a game plan will help to keep you focused.

Quickness often determines the level you can reach. Now don't confuse speed with quickness. Raw speed means how fast can you run in one direction such as the 40 yard dash and 100 meter dash. These are very irrelevant to sport since you often have to change direction. Quickness is characterized as explosive acceleration from a stationary position (Twist, 1997), often based off of reaction time. This is associated with the ability to start, stop and change direction. Physical quickness can be developed by improving power, strength, and movement efficiency. Mental quickness is also a skill that can be approved through experience. Learning to make smart decisions at a faster rate can separate a good player from a great player.

All four factors, physical quickness, mental quickness, physical control mental control are integrated to create the athlete. If you are physically quickness improves, the game slows down a step improving your mental control and ability to make solid decisions. If your mental quickness can improve, your ability to control your body will increase because your decisions are made at a quicker rate allowing more time to get control over your body. All factors integrate together, but find your weakest link out of the four and own it. My guess is if your weakest link improves the other factors will improve as well without even addressing them specifically.

This Quickness Under Control philosophy can only work if you train movements. You must focus on movement and don't be afraid to push beyond your comfort level while practicing. Stay in the realm of control but don't be afraid to put your body in a state of discomfort. My friend Alan Stein likes to say "Temporary Discomfort leads to permanent improvement."

Come back next week for a video about core training and why sit ups and crunches are some of the worst way to train your abs!