Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Back Off Week Day 2


Practice something that you suck at, then practice something that you rock at. But do not go too heavy and get frustrated, nor should you think you're a rock star when practicing your great skill movement, Just be like water and move fluidly.

For me:

1.) Snatch Balance 10-15 x 3-5

2A.) Rope Climb 4x1

2B.) Double Unders 4x50


There is a lot of talk nowadays about becoming a better athlete or to be more fit, you absolutely must spend most of your time doing the things that you hate, or suck at. While there is validity in these statements, you must be careful not to take it too far. If you are good at something, then damn it, you should enjoy it and work your butt off to be really great. Specialize in what you are great at, but do not neglect your weaknesses. Some people have the problem where they spend all of their time working hard to eliminate their weakness, and they allow the great skills to diminish. Do not let that happen, it is your great skill set that is your money maker. Maybe you could get a scholarship or something, who knows, but don't lose your flavor.

To summarize, work hard to eliminate your weakness, but work even harder on the things you enjoy and are good at, because it takes great discipline to be great at something, and we want you to be known for something phenomenal. Think about it, the worlds best pitchers make millions of dollars to throw a hard ball, but nobody gives a shit if they can do a crab walk or clean double bodyweight. My point is, I want you to cross train, but if you are on to something great, keep working hard on that skill and don't give up on it before you reach your max potential.

8 comments:

  1. Hey Matt:

    A great post today. One of your best. Very inspiring and motivationg. I know you have a huge following on youtube and maybe somehow your fans can hear this from you. However, this world is full of just "visual" learners. Most don't have the attention span to actually read and just watch without much thought process.

    In terms of the workouts:

    1. What are snatch balance lifts?

    2. Rope climbs - Real men climb rope! I train at Muscle Beach in Santa Monica and I climb the 25 footer. Love hearing all the "pussies" make excuces on why they don't want to climb. Rope climbing is a lost art.

    3. I suck at double-unders - I'll have to finally watch my Buddy Lee Dvd that's been sitting on my table.

    Again, great post. You're an incredble writer with a very distinct and confidence voice. Keep it going!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Jack, I appreciate your response, and I am trying to start posting more actual articles and written information as opposed to just workouts, but the writing part is not 100% comfortable to me yet. I'll get it.

    A snatch balance is a skill transfer exercise that will enhance your olympic lifting. If you have no desire to perform the full oly lifts, don't bother with this lift. That being said, the exercise begins with the bar on your back with a snatch grip. You then dip and jump the weight up to create momentum and elevation on the bar. But, you are not trying to push the bar up, you are pushing yourself down into the bottom of an overhead squat. So, the bar never really rises much at all, just enough to give you a second to drive down aggressively under the bar. It can be best seen on Greg Everetts site, Catalyst Athletics, look for it in the weightlifting exercise section, its a great site.

    25 feet up a rope is tough, I have 18' ceilings and start from my ass on the ground, keep my legs out straight and pull up, sometimes with additional weight like a vest or chains. It is very challenging to say the least.

    Doubles are cool, but you're not a total dweeb if you can't do them. I'd rather you not do them at all than do them like a spazz.

    Thanks again,
    Matt

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Matt:

    I get a strong sense that you are growing more comfortable with your voice. Like with your workouts, your voice wants to take risk, wants to explode and be aggressive. Trust it and let it it grow. Your voice will then be as fearless as your training. At the same time, you are extremely knowledgable, articulate and intellegent. It's a fantastic mix.


    Also, your writing has hints of dark humor that I think you can go further with.

    You writing and videos are full of passion. I would assume your fans are drawn to the videos because you are one bad mother fucker, but its the passion of the work that pulls me in. Same with some of your blogs. In the internet world of training,there are just the too many fakes and wannabes. To me, you are the real thing. Full of passion for the work. Fuck the phonies.

    In terms of snatch balances - I think Coach Jon Davis calls them drop snatches. I'm going start doing them because I notice when I snatch I don't get under the bar fast enough and sometimes I end up pressing the weight too much. I'll will start this week.

    Here's my version of the workout that I did at the beach.

    5 sets:
    1. one handed KB snatches - 6 reps each side
    2. rope climb - I use my whole body and legs to climb for this one.
    3. one min jump rope - no double unders, just regular alternating jumps.

    Very brutal workout. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Matt I'd say your writing is awesome, love the humor you add in with your posts! But at the same time getting the point across on how to train and not to over think everything and to just got after it and kick ass!! Your style is truely unique! And as far as the workouts you post, you cant get any better! Its what training is all about! Simple and effective, with of course hard fricken work, both mentally and physcally!

    -Wendell Hurst

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wendell,

    what do you know, Jackass?

    Kidding, Thanks Bro! It means a lot that you have been following and hopefully getting good results. I remember you said you are a little younger, right? 16 or so... anyway, most of us didn't have this type of thing called the interwebz a few years ago to get tons of training info with the click of a mouse. Some would say you have it made, others would argue that you have it harder than anyone, because there is too much info to decipher between what is good and what is garbage. Anyone with a little technical savvy can copy a training template and put it in a shiny e book format and fadoozle a bunch of inspired youngsters to purchase their product on their parents dime. You have an option, A.) work your ass off and become great with years of dedication, or B.) constantly seek new info because what you're doing doesn't seem to get you the biggest guns and hawtest girls in school. Those who fall into category B.) will always chase their own tail because they didn't believe in what they were doing, and just weren't willing to give their best effort on a regular basis, and thus are always looking for a new and better system. But, those who decided to chip away and make constant progress will find themselves 5 years from now much further along than their peers, with a beefed up back and a mindset that will destroy their competition. Keep plugging along, my friend, it will pay off, I promise you.

    ReplyDelete
  7. haha there that dumb humor of yours is again....stupid! Yep 17 years this june! Im just a kid crazy about training, so thankful I came across Zack Evan Esh, and You!! And a few others that train in this style. Ive been working out in my basement for about 2 years now, all the training tools I have accumalated have been on my dime except of course my accasional birthday gift haha! Im homeschooled so I can work on my school work on my own time which is normally Tuesdays and Thursdays. And work at my parents hardware store the other days and do anything for anyone just to earn a few bucks....for some new toys for training of course! I know I have to bust my ass and do what needs to be done daily! Thats pretty much my life story...

    -Wendell Hurst

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nice work, Wendell. Keep going strong

    ReplyDelete