I don’t know if you have ever read this or not.  It was posted on my Forum a while ago.  It is  GREAT READ.  Take the time to READ IT.  If you love lifting weights I am sure you can relate in some way.

I believe that the definition of definition is reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself.

Completely.

When I was young I had no sense of myself. All I was, was a product of all the fear and humiliation I suffered. Fear of my parents. The humiliation of teachers calling me “garbage can” and telling me I’d be mowing lawns for a living. And the very real terror of my fellow students. I was threatened and beaten up for the color of my skin and my size. I was skinny and clumsy, and when others would tease me I didn’t run home crying, wondering why. I knew all too well. I was there to be antagonized. In sports I was laughed at. A spaz. I was pretty good at boxing but only because the rage that filled my every waking moment made me wild and unpredictable. I fought with some strange fury. The other boys thought I was crazy.

I hated myself all the time. As stupid at it seems now, I wanted to talk like them, dress like them, carry myself with the ease of knowing that I wasn’t going to get pounded in the hallway between classes. Years passed and I learned to keep it all inside. I only talked to a few boys in my grade. Other losers. Some of them are to this day the greatest people I have ever known. Hang out with a guy who has had his head flushed down a toilet a few times, treat him with respect, and you’ll find a faithful friend forever. But even with friends, school sucked. Teachers gave me hard time. I didn’t think much of them either.

Then came Mr. Pepperman, my advisor. He was a powerfully built Vietnam veteran, and he was scary. No one ever talked out of turn in his class. Once one kid did and Mr. P. lifted him off the ground and pinned him to the blackboard. Mr. P. could see that I was in bad shape, and one Friday in October he asked me if I had ever worked out with weights. I told him no. He told me that I was going to take some of the money that I had saved and buy a hundred-pound set of weights at Sears. As I left his office, I started to think of things I would say to him on Monday when he asked about the weights that I was not going to buy. Still, it made me feel special. My father never really got that close to caring. On Saturday I bought the weights, but I couldn’t even drag them to my mom’s car. An attendant laughed at me as he put them on a dolly.

Monday came and I was called into Mr. P.’s office after school. He said that he was going to show me how to work out. He was going to put me on a program and start hitting me in the solar plexus in the hallway when I wasn’t looking. When I could take the punch we would know that we were getting somewhere. At no time was I to look at myself in the mirror or tell anyone at school what I was doing. In the gym he showed me ten basic exercises. I paid more attention than I ever did in any of my classes. I didn’t want to blow it. I went home that night and started right in.

Weeks passed, and every once in a while Mr. P. would give me a shot and drop me in the hallway, sending my books flying. The other students didn’t know what to think. More weeks passed, and I was steadily adding new weights to the bar. I could sense the power inside my body growing. I could feel it.

Right before Christmas break I was walking to class, and from out of nowhere Mr. Pepperman appeared and gave me a shot in the chest. I laughed and kept going. He said I could look at myself now. I got home and ran to the bathroom and pulled off my shirt. I saw a body, not just the shell that housed my stomach and my heart. My biceps bulged. My chest had definition. I felt strong. It was the first time I can remember having a sense of myself. I had done something and no one could ever take it away. You couldn’t say shit to me.

It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong. When the Iron doesn’t want to come off the mat, it’s the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn’t teach you anything. That’s the way the Iron talks to you. It tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble. That which you work against will always work against you.

It wasn’t until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I had given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes without work and a certain amount of pain. When I finish a set that leaves me shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I know it can’t be as bad as that workout.

I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn’t ready for and spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you’re not prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and self-control.

I have never met a truly strong person who didn’t have self-respect. I think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone’s shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character. It is the difference between bouncers who get off strong-arming people and Mr. Pepperman.

Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart.

Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he was not strong. Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a weakened body cannot sustain it for long. I have some of my most romantic thoughts when I am with the Iron. Once I was in love with a woman. I thought about her the most when the pain from a workout was racing through my body.

Everything in me wanted her. So much so that sex was only a fraction of my total desire. It was the single most intense love I have ever felt, but she lived far away and I didn’t see her very often. Working out was a healthy way of dealing with the loneliness. To this day, when I work out I usually listen to ballads.

I prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you’re made of is always time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had taught me how to live. Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it’s some kind of miracle if you’re not insane. People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole.

I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron Mind.

Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind.

The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it’s impossible to turn back.

The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.

Posted by Rob King | in Articles | 1 Comment

Eric & UFC Fighter Jeff Joslin

Thanks for taking the time for this Interview Eric,  Maybe you could give us some quick background about you and your blog.

Hey thanks for interviewing me! I guess I’ll start with the regular credentials stuff – I’m a Kinesiology grad from the University of Waterloo where I got to learn from Dr. Stu McGill – probably the biggest name in low back rehab in the world. I’ve always been into fitness – I started lifting weights when I was 16 doing Bench press and Bicep curls! Then when I was 17 I built a squat rack from wood and implemented some leg training, which was much needed.

Now, I’m a strength and conditioning coach for MMA fighters and have had a lot of fun training them. When I left university I started working as a trainer in a local gym, and also started training BJJ back at my old martial arts school – Joslin’s in Hamilton. I knew Jeff Joslin was fighting MMA, I asked him if he had a trainer and when I found out he didn’t, we started working together. That was in 2006. After working with him for his Apex title fight and UFC fight vs. Josh Koscheck, guys started asking him for help and he’d send them my way, and now I train fighters in person and online via my blog and the programs I’ve written.

You have a big emphasis on Cardio for MMA.  Yet it seems with the exception of the top fighters most of the MMA guys are missing the boat on MMA Based Cardio.  IE The Ultimate Fighter, we always see guys gassing after 1-2 rounds.  Why do you think this is such a problem for fighters?

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Yes, cardio is definitely huge, but I do value all fitness qualities, and depending on the individual will figure out where they need to focus their training energy. Some guys need strength, some need more power, some need local muscular endurance, while others, like pretty much all of the dudes on TUF: Heavyweights, need to improve their cardio.

So, the problem is different for everyone.

The thing is, one guy may need cardio, but it may be because he’s not strong enough that he’s gassing out. I know this sounds counterintuitive so let me explain with an overly exaggerated example.

Let’s say you can bench press 400 lbs for 10 reps. If a guy who weighs 200 lbs, you could throw him off of you, without any technique, pretty easily, without getting too tired. I mean, you could probably bench press 200 lbs for like 40 reps or something so 1 rep to throw him off wouldn’t take much out of you.

Now, let’s say you can only bench press 150 lbs for 1 rep. If you try to throw this guy off of you like a bench press, you won’t succeed. And if you keep trying, you’re going to fatigue quickly and then it’ll feel like it does at the end of a hard 8-10 rep set – burning and weakness. Then you’re screwed.

So if a guy is not strong, he will gas much quicker, because he’ll be working at a higher percentage of max for any technique.

Now, if a guy is already strong, but he’s gassing out, then it’s a whole different story. It could be inability to recover from engaging the lactic energy system, or it could be that the heart and lungs aren’t developed properly, which would take 2 totally different programs to address.

I guess then that the problem for fighters is that they’re not educated enough to figure it out, and by trying to create their own workouts, they’re probably sticking to their strengths or what they’re used to and missing crucial elements of the puzzle.

What would you recommend for the average gym goer to improve their training and cardio?  Too often we are seeing people doing 45 min plus on treadmills and elepticals at a slow pace and barely sweating!  How would you recommend people change up their workouts & routines to get more benefits?

I think you said it in your question – change up the workout and routine in any way and it’s better than doing the same old.

If someone’s not sweating when they’re running on the treadmill for 45 minutes – they need to learn to push themselves harder. That’s why intervals have become so popular – because people learn to push themselves harder and actually train with a level of intensity that will get them somewhere.

BUT, 45 minute runs aren’t necessarily bad or useless – if you push the pace, you’re going to sweat and get results.

So, for everyone, I’d recommend 3 fundamental training principles: creating a program, changing the program and always making progression.

Create a program and stick to it for 4 weeks, whether it be steady state, intervals, chasing goats, whatever. Make progress from workout to workout – go a little faster, longer, shorten rest time, chase faster goats, etc…

After 4 weeks, switch the program to something different, and make progress again. I guarantee results.

You helped train Jeff Joslin for his UFC fight.  We were privileged enough to have Jeff here for a seminar this year.  When I rolled with him i couldn’t believe how strong he was for a guy that wasnt very muscular!  Do you find there is a large amount of confusion of people when they see someone who appears to be strong (IE A Bodybuilder) Vs. Someone who is functionally strong Like Jeff or other MMA fighters.  How would you advise someone to train who wants to get STRONGER but not really much bigger?

First of all Jeff is an animal, and because his skills are at such a high level, his leverage, positioning, and technique make him feel like a gorilla. That’s why little guys can beat up big guys.

Now – bodybuilding strength is definitely different than strength in the octagon because of isolation type workout programs. Don’t even get me started on using machines.

So the typical ‘chest, biceps’ workout gets someone used to training hard, but only hitting a few muscle groups, training at a slower tempo and/or lower intensity level, and really only engaging the lactic energy system.

When they’re in the octagon, all of a sudden, they have to use every muscle in their body from their toes to their jaw and then they have to deal with all of the by-products of lactate, all of the drain on the nervous system, and it’s just too overwhelming for the system.

That’s why full body workouts make up the majority of my programs – to get the muscles and nervous system used to using the full body.

Thanks so much for your time Eric!  I really appreciate it!  Do you have any new books or projects coming up that you want to share with us ahead of time?

No problem Rob, thanks for having me on your blog.

If there are any fighters who are looking for a complete strength and conditioning designed for fighters only by someone who coaches fighters on a daily basis, I’d suggest they grab a copy of my Ultimate MMA Strength and Conditioning Program.

Also if they want to stay up to date with my latest articles and videos, they can go to my blog at http://www.EricWongMMA.com

PS.  Eric is having a Seasons Beatings sale right now where you can get 3 free bonus programs when you pick up his Ultimate MMA Strength and Conditioning Program. I’ve had a chance to review it… (It’s a great product I bought it 2 months ago!)… If you’re a fighter looking for a program designed specifically for you, make sure you check out the sale before it ends on Thursday, Dec 17 at Midnight….

Posted by Rob King | in Interviews | No Comments