Ryan J. Mathias's Blog, page 14
June 24, 2019
Invest In Yourself
We all want that big break, where we suddenly start to succeed and get rich quick. We want to make that quick investment to finally achieve everything we ever wanted. However, many people seem to forget, the greatest investment you can ever make is in yourself. So, take the hard road, do it your way, and invest in yourself!
The greatest investment you can ever make is in yourself.
This is an excerpt from my Book “Motivated Mindset“.
Don’t let your lack of motivation hold you back from achieving your goals!
Find your motivation and change your life forever!
You Are An Asset
You are the most valuable thing you can invest in because only you can create your own success. Without the proper mindset or skills, you may never reach your full potential. It is easy to invest your money, time and assets towards others; expect them to do all the work for you. However, by taking that easy route you are not improving yourself.
Again, you are your greatest asset and the most valuable thing you can invest in! Yes, you can find some success through others, but if you truly want to be successful, then you need to create your own success. You have to put in the time, energy, effort, money and resources to get your full value back.
An investment in others will always die off, but an investment in yourself stays with you forever.
Maybe you just need:
to improve your health, so you go to the gym.
to heal your relationships, so you go to counseling.
more education or another skill, so you take some classes.
some free time to rejuvenate, so you take a vacation, go for a weekly drive somewhere, or take some time (15-60 minutes) every day to just relax.
Whatever you need to do in order to help build yourself up, start investing in yourself today. You will see an immediate return on your investment, and you will be well on your path to creating your own success!
Just keep investing, and someday you might just change the world!
Create Your Motivated Mindset Today!
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June 20, 2019
Hydration for Athletes and Lifters
What is Hydration?
First, hydration is a balance of fluids in the body or having adequate fluids within the body tissues. There are many factors which affect the balance of fluids within the body as our systems are constantly functioning and changing. Your fluid balance will change depending upon activity, temperature, electrolyte balance, fluids consumed and many other factors. So make sure to follow good hydration practices for optimal performance and health.
Good Hydration Practices:
Always carry fluids with you.
Consume water regularly throughout the day.
Drink 1 Liter of water within one hour of first waking up.
Drink at least 0.7oz X Bodyweight of water during active days.
Consume 1/2 Liter of a 6% saturated (60g per 1 Liter) solution of carbohydrates in sodium water (400-500mg per Liter) for each hour of your training.
Consume an extra 1 Liter of water, or more, when exposed to hot conditions.
Effects of Dehydration
Hydration is important because even a slightly dehydrated fluid balance can have negative effects on your body’s systems, health, and overall performance.
The effects of dehydration affect all tissues within the body. The blood is the smallest fluid compartment in the body and regulates the fluid within the surrounding cells. So fluid loss affects the cardiac system the most. This is due to a decrease in blood plasma volume, which holds a large amount of oxygen and allows for normal cardiac output.
This loss also decreases the blood flow to the skin. This mechanism is used to cool the blood and decreases sweat rate, therefore, decreasing core temperature. An increase in core temperature increases the likelihood of heat exhaustion and other dangerous heat-related illness.
Effects on Performance
The effects of dehydration can also have a great effect on athletic performance.
1A fluid loss of even 2-3% (% of body weight) can decrease your VO2 Max (aerobic performance/ the amount of oxygen the body can use) by 5% and fluid loss of 5% can decrease work capacity by 30% (fluid loss % based upon body weight). Those are major effects occurring after only slight dehydration.
The effects of dehydration are a major concern for endurance athletes that compete continuously for over 1 hour, but there is also a concern for athletes performing high-intensity exercise. 1It has been found that a fluid loss of only 2.5%, prior to exercise, can decrease the capacity for high-intensity exercises, such as sprinting or powerlifting, by 45%. That is nearly half of the athlete’s work capacity decreased just by not staying hydrated before performing.
Even for non-active individuals, hydration is important for proper body function. A constant state of dehydration leads to:
frequent headaches or migraines
rough skin
decreased muscular function
decreased joint function
joint pain
decreased kidney function
and multiple health problems
Many health and performance concerns can be alleviated by simply staying hydrated daily.
How to Stay Hydrated
Luckily, our bodies are smart and they do not give up fluid easily. So normal hydration is not difficult to maintain.
The kidneys filter your blood, removing waste, and maintain proper fluid balance within the body. There is a constant battle between the pull of fluids inside the body versus the pull of fluids out of the body. The side which has the most pull will take most of the fluids. If the pull is too great in one direction or the other, there is an imbalance that will have negative effects.
To be in fluid balance, the pull of fluids out of the body should be equal, or slightly greater, than the pull of fluids inside the body. If the pull of fluids is shifted towards a pull inside the body, then you are in a state of dehydration. This pull allows the body to maintain a constant blood plasma volume. Which then brings fluids to all other cells within the body.
The pull of fluids out of the body is based on the number of waste products that need to be removed through the urine. If there is a greater pull of fluids out of the body through urine then you are either hydrated or there is a major amount of waste product that needs to be removed. This waste can be excess sodium, or other electrolytes, proteins and nitrogen from broken down cells, or toxins within the body.
Your body wants to get rid of these particles but needs water as a transport. So the more you workout and break down tissue, the more fluid you need to get rid of the waste.
Salt, Water, and Sugar
In the kidneys, Sodium, Water and Glucose are filtered together and move together. One of the major functions of sodium, an electrolyte [Na ], is to help maintain fluid balance within the body’s cells.
In the body, water follows sodium in order to maintain a constant concentration gradient (or fluid balance). This is from comparing particles in and out of the cells.
Also, for every gram of carbohydrates in the body, in the form of glycogen, there are 2.7g of water attached to it. This gives sugary sports drinks an advantage for hydration. If there are sodium and carbohydrates within a water-based drink, such as sports drinks, then there is a large pull towards fluids inside the body during absorption and filtration. This is why it is important to utilize appropriately concentrated sports drinks during long-duration exercise to stay hydrated.
However, that does not mean you always need a sports drink to stay hydrated. You have to earn it! If you are not doing intense exercise for at least one hour, then all you need is water for hydration. Only excessive and exhausting exercise requires more.
The most optimal concentration of carbohydrates in water for hydration is 6% concentration. That is 6g per 100mL or 60g of carbohydrates per Liter of water. The amount of sodium needed within the solution varies depending upon the individual, but it is also an important part of replenishment. The standard sodium content should be enough to taste like Ocean water or about 400-500mg per Liter of water.
It was also found that cold fluids moved through the stomach faster allowing for faster absorption in the intestines. So keep fluids cool during exercise, when possible.
The Perfect Hydrating Drink
To stay hydrated during exercise sessions exceeding one hour, continuous or not, drink ½ Liter of cool water with about 30g of fast digesting carbohydrates, in the form of sugar, for every hour of activity.
Throughout the day manage fluid intake by consuming water. You should consume the same amount of water that you lose throughout the day so that fluid in equal fluids out. This will help to maintain a state of hydration while allowing for urine production to remove waste products.
For individuals with a high activity level, drink a minimum of 0.7oz per pound of bodyweight to stay hydrated while removing the waste product from excessive muscle contractions.
During hot days, consume at least one extra Liter of water to account for the excess fluid loss from skin dissipation or sweat.
Final Thoughts
Overall, staying hydrated is not difficult but if neglected it can have major negative effects on your body’s ability to perform and function properly.
The first step to hydration is being prepared. If you are going to be away from a water source for a long period then carry enough fluids with you. Think ahead and know what you need to consume for the activity you are doing.
Also, learn to enjoy water. You should not constantly be craving water, as that is a sign of dehydration. However, you should not dread every drink you take. Water should make up a majority of the fluid you drink so have no complaints about the taste.
It takes some dedication to consume a large amount of fluid daily for active individuals. However, it takes the same dedication to be fit and healthy. By neglecting to stay hydrated you are neglecting to maintain a healthy functioning body. Just be consistent and you will find it is not as hard as you may think.
Stay strong, stay healthy, and stay hydrated.
Credits:
1 = Gleeson, M. Ph.D., Jeukendrup, A. Ph.D. (2010) Sports Nutrition, Second Edition. Excerpt.
http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/dehydration-and-its-effects-on-performance
For more on hydration, watch this video!
June 17, 2019
Attack Life To Be Successful
In life, if you want to be successful, you need to attack your ideas, your problems, and your dreams. Attack life to be successful and attack success with an undying will! Always be on the offense, not the defense. Go head on and blow through your competition so they start backing up and getting out of the way!
This is an excerpt from my Book “Motivated Mindset“.
Don’t let your lack of motivation hold you back from achieving your goals!
Find your motivation and change your life forever!
If you want to be successful you have to be on the attack at all times! That doesn’t mean you should be rude to others and handle situations with aggression. It means that you can’t be defensive all the time, waiting for things to pop up or come to you. So, get out there and get it!
Focus all of your emotion on your ideas, your problems, and your dreams! Don’t wait for problems to arise, or your dreams to come to you. Look ahead and dominate them!
Be prepared, have a plan of action, and fight through the challenges. Your problems are not going to take it easy on you, so you can’t take it easy on them. Face them and fight them off quick!
Your problems are not going to take it easy on you, so you can’t take it easy on them.
The Attack Life Strategy
If you want to be successful, you have to attack life head on!
Control your emotions and think clearly.
Strategize your attacks and push through the front lines. Be prepared for hostile conditions, take the hits and hit back harder!
Be clever with your actions, and direct with your words. Say what you are going to do, and DO IT!
Be reasonable, fair and just, but also direct.
If you show weakness, you might just lose. So put on that Game Face, focus your mind, and stay on the attack! It’s go time!
Create Your Motivated Mindset Today!
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June 12, 2019
6 Steps To Fat Loss Forever
Losing fat is hard when you don’t know what you are doing. Luckily, these simple 6 Steps To Fat Loss Forever, make it easy to lose weight and keep it off for good! Get ready to start burning fat and losing weight, like never before!
Step #1: Take a multivitamin and drink more water!
First, start by simply taking a multivitamin every day and drinking more water. This may seem simple, but it can greatly improve how you feel. Plus, vitamins, minerals, and water all help with fat loss by regulating your metabolism and helping you feel full.
Choose a good multivitamin that has about 50% Daily Value for most vitamins and minerals, and try to work your way up to drinking 0.7 oz x Bodyweight (lbs) in water each day.
Do this for 1-2 weeks before continuing to step 2.
Learn more about vitamins and minerals or staying hydrated.
Step #2: Exercise More!
Next, you absolutely need to exercise if you want to lose fat. Your diet is important, but exercise is much more valuable, as it affects how your body reacts to food.
However, it is vital that you maintain a regular diet as you increase your activity level. If you start out by increasing your daily activity and cutting calories at the same time, then your body will not have the energy to exercise. Eat clean, but eat enough to be full and energized for your workouts.
You should do 90 minutes of moderate intensity exercise 5 days per week OR 30 minutes of vigorous intensity exercise 3 days per week OR a combination of these two.
Do this for 0-4 weeks before continuing on to step 3.
Learn more about these Exercise Guidelines.
Step #3: Improve Your Diet!
Before we cut out calories, we need to make sure that you can maintain a proper diet to fuel your increased activity levels. By improving your diet you will begin to improve your body composition, even if you maintain the same bodyweight.
Maintain this improved diet for at least 4 weeks before moving to the next step.
Learn more about how to improve your diet.
Step #4: Build Muscle!
In order to maintain your valuable muscle, it is important that you do a good amount of strength training while trying to lose fat. If you don’t, then you will lose that valuable muscle and have to work even harder to get it back.
Also, if you do some strength training, you do not need to do nearly as much cardio exercise.
Do this until you have built a solid base of muscle and strength before moving onto step 5.
Recommended Strength Programs:
Home Bodyweight Workout
Beginner Weight Training Program
All Strength Training Programs
Step #5: Cut Calories
If you are exercising regularly while maintaining a regular nutrient dense diet and have stopped losing weight, then you should start to cut out calories. NOT BEFORE!
Again, you need the energy to fuel your increased activity, then you can cut back when it stops working.
I recommend you only cut out 200-500 calories from your daily intake and stick with that until it stops working. Then repeat. For most of us that is just cutting out one snack or part of a meal.
Learn more about modifying your caloric intake with these articles:
JACKED (How to Build Muscle)
SHREDDED (How to Get Leaner)
Step #6: Be Patient!
Unfortunatley, fat loss just takes time. If you have built up many bad habits over the years, it is likely going to take a year or more to correct them.
Progress may seem slow, but any progress should be viewed as a success. This is not easy! So, be proud of yourself every day for taking on the challenge!
Other Fat Loss Articles:
JACKED (How to Build Muscle)
SHREDDED (How to Get Leaner)
Summer Abs!
MOVEMENT-Why You Should Be Moving Everyday!
Hydration (What You Don’t Know)
Stronger Dieting (Optimizing Your Diet)
The Truth About Protein
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June 11, 2019
Persuasion: Principles Of Motivation
June 6, 2019
Be Motivated By Your Successes
To put it simply, those that do not pursue further, have failed...
June 4, 2019
Fail Until You Succeed
May 31, 2019
Fear Leads To Courage
May 28, 2019
Take The Hard Road
Life is a journey, and you get to choose the path you take. Many will take the easy road while those that are strong-willed (like you and I), know that taking the hard road will make us stronger than before. So, when everyone takes the easy route, you should take the hard road. You will learn more and become stronger through the challenges you face. Then you can continue to lead forward with your new found knowledge as you create a new path for others to follow, while those that didn’t fight for their success have nowhere else to go.
This is an excerpt from my Book “Motivated Mindset“.
Don’t let your lack of motivation hold you back from achieving success!
Find your motivation and change your life forever!
Choose to do what is hard, because difficult things make us stronger.
Life is not supposed to be easy! If life was easy, then it wouldn’t be very rewarding. We need to struggle in order to appreciate the good times we have. Good things like success would hold no weight if there was not a struggle to get there!
Of course, not everything needs to be hard, but it shouldn’t all be easy either. It is good for us to fail at times in order to learn from it and build up some scars, so we can withstand more pain than before. So choose to take on challenges in life, because they will make you so much stronger!
Do What Is Difficult
Do what is difficult, because difficult things make us stronger.
You should be grateful for the challenges thrown your way because they make you stronger and help to define who you are by how you get through them. It’s easy to just give up and not even try when things seem too difficult, but it is through those challenges that we are reborn even stronger. Difficulty is just another pathway to creating your own greatness. Accept the challenge and show the world you will not be stopped!
Challenges do not stop you from achieving success.
They give you the opportunity to make a better one.
So many people take difficulty as a loss and just give up when things get tough, but struggle should push you, not hold you back. When you run into trouble, just view it as another opportunity to make things even better.
Change doesn’t have to be bad. You can take what you have learned and make a better future from them. Be open to change and learn from your struggles!
Leaders Take The Hard Road
The hard road is for leaders that want to push past what others have done before. While the easy road is for followers that want to quickly reach assumed success, with no real knowledge of how to get there.
Of course we all need to be good followers to learn how to become great leaders, but eventually, you will need to branch out if you want to continue moving forward. You have to go into the unknown and take risks. If you are strong enough, from all the hard roads you’ve taken before, you can succeed even when times are tough.
Once you have achieved success on your own, then no one can take it away from you. So choose the difficult things in life! Take the hard road and no one can take away what you have earned!
Don’t avoid what is hard. This is not supposed to be easy.
Destroy Challenges. Conquer Fears. Let nothing stand in your way!
This is your life! Own It!
Go Above and Beyond
On your Journey to Greatness, never do just the minimum!
When asked to do something 10 times, do it 11. Always do 1 more. One more than asked, one more than before, one more than you thought you could do…never the minimum.
Too many people do just the minimum requirements to get by and never reach their full potential because of it. It is those that push themselves beyond what is required, in everything that they do, that achieve true success. Go above and beyond to find what you are truly made of!
Create Your Motivated Mindset Today!
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May 26, 2019
Funny Gym Fail Stories
Do you have some funny gym fail stories you want to share to the world? Share them here, by commenting your story below or emailing us! If they are funny enough, I will repost them to The Strength Blog !
Now, to start it off, I have two funny stories for you! The first is one that I witnessed in person. The second is one I was told years ago, and is absolutely dumbfounding and hilarious!
Both took place in our local Powerlifting Gym. Actually, they both happened in the exact same location in the gym…at the squat rack, where all good things happen! Enjoy!
Funny Gym Fail Story #1: The Full Nelson Spotter!
The Set-Up
First, I am a powerlifter and have a powerlifting team, the Strength Warriors. Needless to say, I am at the gym a lot, and, just like many of you, I see a lot of dumb stuff. However, this is one of the best gyms fails I have ever heard of or had the privilege of seeing in person.
It is a typical day at the gym, where I am in the back powerlifting room warming up for a nice squat workout on one of the 3 squat racks in the gym. On this day, the gym owner was also doing some squats in the main hallway, just outside the powerlifting room’s doorway. So, as usual, between my squat sets, I would go out into the main hallway and have the normal gym bro conversations.
The Gym Idiots
While this is going on, our three teenage gym idiots walk in. You know, the ones that wear gloves to workout, quarter rep everything, and always have to use the pu$$y-pad on the bar for squats. THOSE guys. We will call them Tall, Short, and Plump; which also best describes their figure.
These three gym idiots walk to the end of the hall, near the exit, and take the third and final squat rack.
Between sets, the gym owner and I keep an eye on them for a bit of humor but let them do their thing because they are not really doing anything wrong…yet. They are beginners and do what we all had to do as beginners at first, which is figure things out.
We probably could have talked to them at any point during this entire scenario, and given suggestions. However, it probably would not have stuck. They likely would have felt embarrassed and discouraged from continuing if we told them everything they were doing was wrong anyway. So we let them learn at their own pace, as they were not hurting anything.
They proceeded to take turns doing a few light sets with the bar and maybe 115 pounds. Then, it all changed in an instant…
The Gym Fails
Now, up until this point, everything was fine. Typical beginner stuff.
They had the safety bars set WAY too low.
The adjustable rack was set too high.
Plus, they quarter repped everything.
After they finished their warm-ups to 135, they all came to agree 155 was the next best weight. However, Short was not so sure about this new weight. Tall and Plump encouraged him and said they could spot him in case he needed help. Short agreed, so Tall and Plump went to either side of the bar to side-spot him.
Problem #1: With this new weight, Short was not tall enough or strong enough to unrack the weight from the hooks.
Solution #1: Tall told Plump to lift the weight off the rack with him and they would set it on Short’s back so he could squat it.
A bad idea and gym fail, but they survived.
The Gym Fail Grand Finale
Now, as soon as the weight was set on Short’s back he immediately was not comfortable with the situation. The mere 155 pounds, which was likely 30 or so pounds over his bodyweight, was too much for him to squat.
“Don’t worry. I’ll come to spot you!” said Tall.
So, Tall leaves his original side-spot position, which would have been safer for both of them, and gets behind Short. Here is where the funny gym fail comes into play…
Problem #2: Short is not strong enough to quarter squat 155 pounds on his own.
Solution #2: Tall comes behind Short and decides to spot him by, no joke, hooking his arms under and through Short’s arms while grabbing onto the bar. He was basically giving Short a Full Nelson with the help of the bar pushing down on Short’s neck.
Major Gym Fail!!! I wish I was making this up!
At this point, the gym owner and I are dumbfounded! We don’t even have words to describe what we were feeling as we see these two gym idiots do 3 reps of no more than 4-inch knee bends with 155 pounds.
Afterward, we just look at each other with looks of “What did we just witness?”, included with jaws dropped. No words were spoken. We were both just wishing we had enough time to video the craziness!
After a moment, I went back into the other room to continue my workout, and it seems that was their last squat set.
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Funny Gym Fail Story #2: Chain Gang Squats!
by Steve M.
The Set-Up
First, this is not my Funny Gym Fail Story. This was told to me by my gym’s previous owner and took place about a decade ago, in his gym.
To start, you need to know that the Gym I go to is a 24-hour Gym. This means it has cameras everywhere, and the only employee is the gym owner. Which means he can see EVERYTHING that goes on at all times.
Also, the previous Gym owner was a big-time Powerlifter and the gym was originally made as a powerlifting gym. Eventually, it turned into a standard fitness gym, but it still keeps the good qualities of an old school powerlifting gym. Chalk, chain, blood, and awesome equipment. If you had a problem with it, he would tell you to leave.
The Story
Now, at the time of this gym fail, the gym owner was in his office at the front of the gym. Obviously checking on the cameras which were on the screen next to him from time to time as he worked.
In walk the two gym idiots. Typical high school athletes looking to put in some extra work to get ahead. Good for them, but they still messed up. We will call them Intermediate and Beginner based on their experience level.
Intermediate has been coming to the gym for a few months and had decent strength and form for most lifts. At the time he was bringing Beginner in for his first workout to show him the ropes. Of course, as we know, the best exercise to start with is squats. So, they proceed to the squat rack at the very back of the gym, far away from the front office.
Still, the gym owner keeps an eye on them through the cameras as they take a few minutes to go over proper technique and warm-up. All is well.
Switching Things Up
The boys work up too 225 pounds for squats and then decide it’s time to switch things up.
Again, this is a powerlifting gym, so things like chains and chalk are readily open to anyone that wants to use them. All they have to do is go to the back room, near the squat rack they are in, and get what they want to use.
These gym idiots decide that they want to try out squatting with chains, because, yeah, that sounds cool.
So, they proceed to get 3 pairs of 20-pound chains (6 total chains adding 120 pounds in total). This is no problem, except they do not seem to have a clue what they are doing. This is proven when they, instead of hooking the ends of the chain to the bar and letting the rest hang off, wrap the chain around the ends of the bar as if they are adding 20-pound plats with each chain.
The problem they then run into is that they can only get two chains on each end and don’t know what to do with the third.
Here is where the Gym Fail occurs!
The Epic Gym Fail
Intermediate decides that if you can’t wrap the chain on the bar to add weight…why not just wrap it around his neck? So, after Intermediate gets set-up with the bar on his back, he has Beginner put the two extra chains draped over his neck, hanging in front of him.
As soon as the gym owner gets a glips of this he runs out of the office and around the corner to where he is in full site of the squat rack with the gym idiots about to squat.
Unfortunately, he does not get there in time and sees as Intermediate goes down into a full depth squat (which is not his norm, but the weight was likely crushing him) to where he cannot recover from. So, Intermediate is forced into a neck and back-breaking position as his hips shoot up and his entire body is pulled forward by the now hanging chain weight from his neck.
Luckily, the 305-pound bar weight rolled over his head and off of him, crashing into the squat rack safeties, without throwing him to the ground.
Repercussions
The gym owner sees this and screams from 50-feet away, “WHAT IN THE HE// ARE YOU DOING?!!!”
Intermediate Gym Idiot turns towards the gym owner looking absolutely terrified! Pale white like a ghost. Eyes wide. 40-lbs of chain hanging from his neck and no answer at all as to what he was doing.
The gym owner then proceeded to lay into him for ten whole minutes about how much of a gym idiot he is and how he is lucky that gym fail didn’t kill him and Beginner both. The whole time Intermediate had no response and couldn’t even make out words. He stood there with the same petrified look on his face the whole time.
When he was done, the gym owner locked the chains in the back room and never let anyone else use them without his exclusive permission. He then went back to his office and had a good 20-minute laugh over everything that occurred, as it was also one of the funniest gym fails he had ever witnessed in his life.
Intermediate left and never came back after that. However, Beginner continued for a few more months and made some real progress without the help of his original gym idiot partner.
That’s all for now. I hope you enjoyed these funny stories and please share your gym fail stories below or send them to us here.
