I hope you start writing again soon. I like the way you think.

Can you write some posts on the following topics?

-lifting focus, periodization and supplemental work. I train the O-lifts primarily, but would like to hear your take on what you do for training legs. I know you no longer back squat. But suppose you do goblet squats…do you do them often? How often and with what rep schemes and loading parameters? I am asking out of personal interest. I squat (high bar, and front) several times a week (and will seldom do other squatting movements…zerchers with various implements, goblet, even lunges), but I don’t plan on dropping barbell squatting anytime soon. I am almost 31 years old and realize it will be healthy for me to take an alternative approach to leg training after about 10 more years or so.

-What is your definition of ‘strong’? For example, what is a strong pair of legs? What is a strong back?

-The psychology of those who lift from those who don’t.

These are some topics I would like your opinions on. Your writing imparts wisdom that I am very attracted to…I have even recommended it to a very strong friend of mine.

cheers and Happy New Year

Caleb

All the best,
Josh

Welcome aboard and thank you for the compliment!

Yeah, I just realized I have something like 80 articles on my site. I will be adding more and am working on several other projects with plans for DVDs and some videos, etc.

Spread the word and comment whenever you feel like it. Any questions, please feel free to ask. If there is something you would like me to write about feel free to mention it. I like people’s input, good or bad, ha ha!

Best to you!

I found your blog via dragondoor.com’s forum.

It’s awesome. Great work.

I’ve only read a few articles, as each one is very detailed, so I’ll be back.

The one about training alone is my favourite so far.

All the best from Belgium,

Otto

Definitely a big plus for dirt riders to be as strong as possible for their size. Usually when a person gets fatigued riding a motorcycle in the dirt, their muscles get tired first and then it takes extra energy to keep going so they start sucking wind soon after. If you have a good reserve of strength and wind, no problem, you can ride harder, faster for longer.

When the muscles get tired we start making mistakes. Endo!

This isn’t directed at anyone in particular, but if the shoe fits…

Dump a bike a few times in the sand or mud and try picking it up. If we are weak or just have what we might consider average levels of strength (still weak in my mind) picking up a dumped bike will wear us out fast. We get tired and make mistakes and wipe out again.

Once we get tired, skill and technique flies out the window. Fine motor skills get dropped and only gross motor skills remain. To ride at our best, we need to be on our game mentally and physically.

If a guy weighs 150-170 and his ride weighs in at 230-250 lbs or more, he had better be able to dead-lift at least 225 (this is a bare minimum) if he wants to pick that bike up fairly easily. Even better if he can dead-lift around 300lbs. Even more for a bigger guy. Someone who weighs in at 180-200+ should work on getting his dead-lift up to around 325-400lbs. Achieving a double body-weight dead-lift for a couple of reps is within the realms of just about any man.

It doesn’t even take all that much training time to do it, just a few basic lifts. Such a reserve of strength will go a long way in helping a guy throw his bike around riding in the dirt, sand, mud or whatever.He won’t get as fatigued as fast as his buddies, so fine motor skills will be there when his friends/competitors are wearing out and making small mistakes that he can capitalize on.

Just last week my brother told me he saw several of the top riders are now using sledge hammers on tires, barbells, kettlebells and other things like that to train…

I’ve been trying to get guys to realize this for a long time…

Too many guys train like they did in the 70′s. A lot of guys training models and routines are based off of methods used to train runners for marathons.

Head check:

Riding motocross or enduros or off-road desert,etc, on dirt bikes is nothing like running a marathon or training for one. So why do guys insist on training with long runs and bicycle rides?

Lift something heavy and get strong!

Beat on old tires with sledge hammers, flip tires, do farmers walks, swing kettleblells, do body-weight training, sprint some hills and build some strength endurance!

Practice your skill of riding on your dirt bike. It doesn’t have pedals and weighs more than 20lbs.

Now I’m not saying we need to look like Conan the Barbarian to ride, but we don’t want to look like Twiggy or Humpty-Dumpty either. My brother was telling me about a rider (can’t recall his name) who use to pick his bike up. He’d grab the frame and lift it up in front of him, both wheels off the ground. Strong guy! How many riders can do that?

Anyway, Charles Atlas got his idea by observing wild cats in the zoo. He wondered how a Tiger, who lazes around most of the day, remains powerful and able to pounce on prey with laser-sharp determination. He figured the Tiger regularly tenses up his muscles through tension. You can even observe your housecat doing this. And this fast muscle action is also seen in reptiles, when a snake suddenly grabs and coils around a squirrel.

I’m glad you made a reference to motorcycle riding. I do imagine dirtbike riding could benefit from being strong for one’s size. I don’t think Ricky Carmichael was all that big, but he was a thick solid kid with amazing muscle endurance.

1 gm of protein per pound of body weight. This, I hear so often. Common knowledge that is as old as the internet itself. I do try to get close to that. And don’t worry about me getting hooked on soy. I never really liked the stuff! Give me 93% ground beef instead.

Muscle imblance is a biggie. I’m working on this. Biggest problem was my shoulders being too far forward, which is common I think for those who spend too much time hunched over a keyboard. Every exercise I do, I focus on keeping my shoulders pinched back. It seems to be helping. My other chronic program is elbow tendonitis.

I do overhead dumbbell presses on shoulder day. Perhaps I should use the barbell as well. I do these seated. I’m not quite ready to snatch and overhead press like the Olympic weightlifters do.

I am still waiting for your book or DVD. I think daily routine has a lot to do with overall functional strength. Obviously someone who works a farm all day, then watches TV at night is going to be a lot more robust than a desk jockey who goes to a gym 3-4 times a week to pound out the weights maybe a hour each time. You seem to come from that blue collar background that has built a certain resilience to your physique. Muscular endurance.

I don’t know how old you are, but as men get older their testosterone levels decrease. There are natural substances that can boost that. Sad things is, if you go to a regular doctor and get your T levels checked, they will usually just tell people you are in the “normal range for someone your age”. Which means you are low in testosterone. That is what makes a man a man. If a man is struggling with getting stronger, getting motivated, dealing with the blues, lack of self-confidence, struggling trying to get stronger, constantly getting injure, well it could be many things. But if a complete physical shows nothing really wrong with the person, chances are pretty good their T levels are too low.

Also, getting enough protein is critical. You have to forget all the nut-jobs that suggest eating 30-50 grams of protein is more than enough. Yeah, sure, if ya sit around doing nothing all day. You’ll need to consume about one gram of protein for each pound of body-weight to gain muscular body-weight. Muscle is made out of protein, not carbs. Carbs is for energy. This is simplified, but works for what we want. If calories is a problem, use a high quality egg and/or milk/whey protein powder. Make sure it has little to no soy in it! Mix it with water if you are trying to keep the calorie intake lower.

You may need to gradually increase your weights you lift at a progressively slower pace than others. You may have a strength imbalance that is holding you back that keeps flaring up. Address weaknesses and many times that makes a big difference. Also, if you bench you need to also press weights overhead. The two movements make for healthier shoulders than just bench pressing alone.

Your bench press technique probably needs to be adjusted. Don’t spend a lot of time lifting for a lot of reps and sets. It will burn you out and lead to injury. Also, every 4th week should be a back off week so your body can rest up somewhat and be ready to push harder for the next three weeks.

There are plenty of things you can do that would probably really help you gain more strength (and muscle size if you want)that you are not aware off.

It has been found that muscle fiber can be trained and eventually switched over from fast twitch to slow twitch and vice versa, by the methods we use in training.

I have a lot of other thoughts on all of this.

There is hope!