It requires no real skill. You wont have to spend the next ten years honing your ninja like moves. There is no weapons or poison to buy. It turns out that all you have to do is bore them to death. No none will notice. The body will simply show up one day and none us will be any the wiser.

Scientists, Annie Britton and Martin J. Shipley of the Department of Epidemiology at University College London studied over 7,500 civil servants between the ages of 35 and 55 and recorded their level of boredom. Then they called back 10 years later to find out who was still alive.

Those who’d said they had high levels of boredom were 37% more likely to be dead by 2009! And what was the conclusion? Bored people are more prone to being unhappy, unmotivated and unfulfilled and generally all round miserable leading to unhealthy habits like smoking, drugs, or drinking…yadda, yadda, yadda.

So, for that stealth Kill…Do Nothing.

What does this have to do with lifting shit?

I hear so many folk whine. I don’t know what programme to do, how long should I rest, how many reps? Should I add muscle, should I drop weight. Do I need to do cardio. Am I too huuuuuuge!??? STOP!

You owe it to yourself to make your training brutally effective and with a little imagination, fun. If you have to choose one, go for the former but if you are even just a little bit clever, it can be both.

We all know the benefits of regular exercise. We know that the physical and mental pay off is worth every minute. But so many guys get hung up on the small stuff and turn the process into a navel gazing exercise. The mental component of training only kicks in when you are actually training. I don’t care how much Napoleon Hill you read, you are not going to think and grow big! You cant read yourself fit.

Train properly and there will be no time to fuss over details, that in all honesty, have little or no impact on your overall conditioning.

So, first things first. Make your training sessions short. I often simply pick two exercises and work them back to back. Rather than worrying about muscles, think about moves.

We are designed to push, pull, squat, lunge, bend and twist. So, a lunge matrix followed by a pyramid set of Kettlebell squats. Or how about double Clean and jerks and wide grip pull ups.

You don’t need a ton of gear to do this and it is simple to take a drill you have mastered and make it more challenging. I recently added a pair of Fat Gripz to my pull up routine and I went from cranking out smooth double digits to strugglling to get 5.

For the guys who think of training as a neccesary evil, you will always be taking two steps forward and one step back. If you can get your head in the game and make your training “playful” you will open up a world of potential.

This week so far has consisted of…Monday, Kettlebell Clean and jerks and pull ups. Tuesday, Heavy Bag, skipping and snatches. Wednesday, 2 mile run, strengthing, kicking, shadowboxing. Thursday, Indian Clubs, shoulder press, suitcase dead lifts, pull ups, press ups.

Today? Sun is shining, might go to the park and swing, roll, run, jump. Bottom line is, I will move!

So yeah, it’s great to have a plan, it’s good to have a goal. But more importantly, it’s essential to simply move like you mean it. Embrace the chaos, try stuff, experiment, ditch the stuff that doesn’t work, do the stuff that you don’t like, temper that with the stuff you love.

One thing is for sure…you wont get Bored!

- Rannoch

Everyone reading this should be able to crank out 10 dead hang pull ups, 30 full range push ups (elbows in tight) and 60 “Ass To Grass” bodyweight squats.

One after the other. No rest. Triple Tap. Bang, Bang and one for luck…Bang! This is non-negotiable. And here’s why…

I get people through my workshops who are keen to learn how to use a kettlebell. It’s not that complicated, but it is challenging, actually make that seriously challenging.

Many folks will have a background in training, athletics, in Martial Arts or perhaps they are motivated to lose some weight and simply get back in shape.

But often they under report. I ask what their current training or activity level is like and they tell me they go to the gym but they have had a month off, they did a marathon last year, they used to do Karate, rugby, soccer etc…But it gets foggy sometimes and who am I to question?

Come Training Day is always obvious who’s been working and who hasn’t. In 5 minutes we can see who works out and who likes the idea but hasn’t mastered the application for a while.

So here is your bench mark. Get the following moves and numbers down. Start with what ever numbers you can work.

It won’t take you long to get going but the pay off is immense.

With body-weight training of this sort you can afford to do a little every day and as your strength and numbers increase you can increase the volume/intensity but cut back on the sessions.

How To Start

Start with Pull ups. What ever number you can do simply multiply by three and do that many push ups. So, for example, if you do three pull ups you drop and do 9 push ups and follow this my multiplying your pull up score by 6 and perform 18 body weight squats.

So there you go, 30 reps. Should take you a minute or so. Aim to add a pull up if not each session, then each week. If you are struggling with even getting one then drop me a line. We’ll get you there.

If you are struggling, start with what you can do. 1 pull up, 3 press ups, 6 squats. Work that sequence a few times a day. When one becomes two, you know what to do.

There simply isn’t enough volume here to produce any type of over training. But once you can bang out you 10 / 30 / 60 in under 2 minutes you will be feeling pretty tight and light.

Once you can roll out 3 full rounds of this as you might increase the numbers (which at this stage will be much easier) add some weight to the drills or make the moves more challenging with variations.

How do we arrive at these figures? What rigorous scientific methodology has been applied to establish these baseline numbers? In lengthy double blind, triple filtered, zero bullshit study conducted at my house I decided if you can’t do these numbers chances are you are kidding yourself about your current strength and conditioning levels (and probably your eating habits and your ninja skills too!)

…And you really should put away the toys and get to grips with real strength. A pull, a push and a squat, just like mother nature intended. These three moves work major muscles, engage the core and get the body to work as a single unit.

This is tensile strength. As natural as it gets. It is also the foundation for tackling bigger, nastier and altogether more difficult challenges…and they are just around the corner.

Leave me a message below if you have any questions or comments!

- Rannoch

You can get more info from Rannoch on his blog Simple Strength

“On a large enough time line, the survival rate for everyone will drop to zero”

We need to get this one out of the way first. The longer you stick around, the shorter the odds, so you might as well get in shape for the trip, however long (or short) it might be.

“This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time”

Yup, one minute at a time. This leads on from the last quote. Remember, your next excuse might be your last. We get better, improve, one second at a time. So what is it going to be? What are you more interested in? TV or your T-Levels?

“If I could wake up in a different place, at a different time, could I wake up as a different person?”

Today you will have numerous opportunities to deliver. You have these every day but time and time again we’d rather not take the risk. We are so scared of looking stupid, making fools of ourselves. If you want things to be different, do things differently!

“One minute was enough, Tyler said, a person had to work hard for it, but a minute of perfection was worth the effort”

What you put in is what you get out. The sublime effort to get it right, to flirt at the outer reaches of your ability. Just now and again, just often enough to experience that fleeting moment of perfection.

“If you don’t know what you want,” the doorman said, “you end up with a lot you don’t.”

Everytime you train, everytime you practice, you are on a journey. If you have a ton of experience under your belt then you can freestyle for sure. But if you are like the vast majority of folk, far from your potential, you need to think about where your training is taking you. Get a plan, stick with it long enough to see the difference it can make. Training doesn’t need to be a leisure activity. Make it count.

“May I never be complete. May I never be content. May I never be perfect”

And then you need to realise that it’s a life’s work. There is always something to improve on. Something to do. And that is what makes it at the very least, interesting and at it’s best, exhilarating.

“I just don’t want to die without a few scars”

This really doesn’t need much explanation…does it? the following tell you why…

“After a night in fight club, everything in the real world gets the volume turned down”

You can escape into that last set. You know the one. It would be easier to pack up and go home. But if you hang in there, when the mind wants to walk but the body is still capable, you will be better person for it. Stressed? Go lift. Can’t sleep? Drop and do fifty. Had enough? Crank out those pull ups. A little intensity goes a long way.

“The gyms you go to are crowded with guys trying to look like men, as if being a man means looking the way a sculptor or an art director says”

It’s perhaps ironic that the film spawned a generation of men who wanted to look like Brad Pitt, weighing in at around 160lbs at Six feet. Work with what you’ve got. Don’t worry about the guys training next to you, work with who you are.

“At the time, my life just seemed too complete, and maybe we have to break everything to make something better out of ourselves”

For a generation for whome luxuries have become neccessities and everything exists in abundance, we’ve lost sight of the value really living. Can you ditch it all and get back to basics? No t-shirt, running shoe or hot new gadget will make you train any harder. Which is another way of saying…

“It’s only after you’ve lost everything,” Tyler says, “that you’re free to do anything.”

Pick three moves, a push, a pull and a squat. Work them back to back til you know your done. No pen and paper required. Simple.

“You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else”

The upside is we are all in the same boat. Everyone starts somewhere. The trick is to start.

“You’re not your job. You’re not your family, and you’re not who you tell yourself…. You’re not your name…. You’re not your problems…. You’re not your age…”

In the current climate it’s easy to feel the odds are stacked. Kettlebell swings, 30 seconds on 30 seconds off for 10 minutes are a great leveller. Want to switch off the monkey mind for a while? Who says meditation can’t involve sweat…Go swing.

“The best way to waste your life, … is by taking notes. The easiest way to avoid living is to just watch. Look for the details. Report. Don’t participate.”

Humble thanks to Chuck Palaniuk. If you have not read the book do so. It’s not about fighting, it about being alive. Check it out…

http://chuckpalahniuk.net/

- Rannoch