How Modern Workouts Can Make You Weaker

Though you may be safe and sound from most of the horrors of the past (Saber Toothed Tigers and whatnot), you MIGHT find yourself susceptible to falling prey to another insidious predator lurking in the shadows and waiting to pounce at any moment: wishy-washy workouts that make you weaker— even if you don’t realize you’re at risk.

The idea that your workouts might actually make you weaker may seem absurd, but I and my colleagues see it quite often. And it’s not an outcome reserved solely for cardio bunnies either — a lot of iron enthusiasts suffer the same fate.

But how could something like this even happen? There are a few key reasons:

1) Your workouts are isolated from real-world activities.

We all have a tendency to find one thing we like and then stick with it. For example, it could be kettlebells, bodyweight, or a mixture of both. But no matter what, we’ll find specific exercises that we like the most and just do them over and over because it’s easier that way.

And when we’re done working out, we go back to our sedentary lives and don’t put the strength to any real use in the real world, thereby shoring up some of the gaps in our strength by filling the various nooks and crannies — and when the time comes to try to put them to use, we often fall far short.

2) We avoid training movements that build “all-purpose strength”.

“All-purpose strength” is that phenomenon you often see farmers, firefighters, lumberjacks, and mechanics have — the ability to move heavy, awkward objects at a variety of weird, “unnatural” angles with relative ease.

Getting that type of strength through a series of highly refined, repetitive movements (such as our favorite gym lifts) is not very likely. You have to start doing movements that replicate some of these labor-intensive activities. They can be done in the gym, so you don’t have to rush out and get a blue-collar job, you just have to know what you’re doing.

3) Most workouts require you to stand still — but life requires you to move.

This is a big one. There’s a phenomenon known as the SAID principle (Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands) that says your body will get good at EXACTLY what you train it to. That could be sitting for 12 hours at a clip. It could be standing still and lifting weights. No matter what, your body will get skilled at it.

As such, if you expect to go from standing in a 10x10 space, lifting things up and putting them down, and then transfer that to some laborious real-world activity (it could be anything from moving furniture to carrying a new washing machine inside or just rough housing with your kids and grandkids) you’ll find that you’re not as prepared as you think you are.

Now, I’m not saying you should stop lifting weights. Far from it. I’m just saying that you need to diversify your movements in order to replicate (on some level) hard-labor activities. These hard-labor activities tend to have a better carryover into your favorite lifts than vice versa.

Build some “old man strength!”

For example, my dad used to own a body shop where he worked on cars all day long. This included stuff like carrying two massive engine blocks from one end of the shop to the other on a regular basis.

He didn’t work out much, but when he WOULD go to the gym, he would absolutely annihilate everything in his path. He weighs about 125–130 lbs, and he could move the entire stack on various weight machines, while 200+ lb bodybuilders stared on in wide-eyed, contemptuous awe.

Strength coach extraordinaire Dan John tells of helping a well-established powerlifter and weightlifter bring his deadlift from the low 500s to the high 500s in 3 weeks just by adding heavy loaded carries into his program.

In other words, spending a short amount of time — even just a month — really emphasizing and developing natural “labor-like” movements such as crawling, carrying, and “climbing” will not only make your body feel more bulletproof, but it will also very likely give you the boost you need to start hoisting heavier weights and going harder in the gym without destroying yourself in the process.

Ponder this before you start your next program where you overwork yourself to eke out some meager new gains.

On that note, if you like training that:

• Gives you more strength than it takes from you
• Improves your stamina and resilience simultaneously
• Powers-up every nook, cranny, crevice, and corner of your Soft Machine

Then you just might like my 9-Minute Kettlebell and Bodyweight Challenge.

It’s a challenge designed to be done alongside your regular workouts (NOT instead of them) that uses super simple, full-body movements that can be learned in mere minutes — moves like crawling, kettlebell carries, and more — and is designed to help tap into some of your body’s little known reflexes and inner storehouses of power, so you can expand your brute strength, build cyborg stamina, and forge unbreakable physical and mental resilience.

Even cooler:

Each session will leave you feeling like you’ve made gains — NOT like you’ve been drained.

Plus, the workouts are built to be done daily without sucking up tons of time or energy, so you can take on the rest of each day with a new surge of power and confidence.

Many people find that these moves help amplify their strength in their favorite kettlebell and bodyweight moves while also crafting a lean, hard, and functional physique.

Example:

· Lewis from Singapore nailed his first 1-arm pushup after doing a bodyweight drill called ‘Dead Bugs’ (which is also covered in the Challenge)

· Busy mom Lina from Sweden used crawling to not only improve her full-body strength and resilience , but also shredded so much body flab that she could see her abs for the first time in ages

· Barak from Israel saw his pullups go from 6 reps to 8 reps just by doing daily kettlebell carries

And best of all, it’s free.

How free?

I’m talkin’ freer than the 4th of July, my friend.

Get thee thine own copy here => www.9MinuteChallenge.com

Have fun and happy training!

Aleks Salkin