Today, I’m going to tell you the secret to lifting weights without injury. However, it flies in the face of popular convention. It’s not popular or even easy however when you master it, it will not only help you train without injury, it will actually aid in your recovery as well as increase your health…your lung capacity & heart efficiency. It is not a pill; in fact (steroids included) there is no pill that will help you prevent weight training injuries if you lift to gain muscle (although glucosamine does aid your joints). No, this is better!

However, it’s not for those who are satisfied to live within the boundaries of their ego or a comfort zone; you have to be determined to move forward! My secret will not only affect your bodyfat for the better but it will also improve the function of your internal organs. Am I piquing your interest? What is this secret? Cardiovascular training. I hear a collective sigh as your disappointment reverberates back to me. Everyone hates cardio! You picture hours of your life lost on a treadmill. Before you give up on this idea, read on.

Cardio training is like anything else; you must make it enjoyable & interesting or you won’t do it. The key is to pick things you like doing or if using a monotonous activity (i.e. treadmill or elliptical runner) set it up in front of a TV or a movie you’ve wanted to watch. Compete against yourself & try to better your past performance each time out. However, I encourage you to vary your cardio activities so that you don’t lose interest. Many sports that are fun to participate in are also a good diversion to your cardio endeavors. The key is to make it fun & divert your mind so that it’s not dull or drudgery. You’ll never be consistent if you hate it so make it fun & a challenge!

We’ve talked about how to do cardio, now let’s talk about why. Starting with the benefit of exercising & strengthening your heart & lungs, including your respiratory functions (blood pressure & circulation) and your immune system (ability to fight off infection & disease), the benefits of cardiovascular training are almost too many to list. But I want to also say something that many “muscleheads” would debate. Cardio training aids in building muscle. Think about it logically; when you are in good cardiovascular shape, your body works at peak efficiency internally. Your ability to recover from taxing, hard & heavy sets of lifting weights becomes easier. Your body doesn’t go into oxygen deprivation as easily and when it does, it’s able to recover to a normal state faster. With improved circulation (alone), nutrients that need to be taken to broken down muscles are quick & efficient so the muscle recovers faster. If your muscles & joints are getting what they need when they need it, your recovery time is better & your lifting is more efficient with less soreness & for a shorter duration.

Look at your healthy lifestyle as a stool: Weight training, proper nutrition and cardiovascular training. Leaving out one of these legs causes the stool to become unsteady & to fall over. Arm yourself with the information it takes to be successful in your health endeavors and your body will thank you with better performance & less breakdowns!

Your brother in Christ, Kevin

*Please have a physical fitness test by a licensed medical physician before embarking on any exercise program!

“Working the Big Gear”

This year I have been using more road cycling for cardiovascular training. I live in an area that (for Texas) has some pretty challenging hills to climb. Since I don’t use hooks on my pedals, I initially thought the main impact would be to my quads as opposed to my hamstrings not to mention glutes I’m sitting on. This was initially true as I had my seat too low & forced my quads to dig because of the height of my body in relationship to the pedals. As I raised my seat, I began to use both sides of my legs evenly. I try to ride the same course for time so that I can compete against myself.

One of the things I’ve learned about improving my times (and overall speed) is to try to stay in the higher/bigger gears longer. You get more efficiency when traveling for time out of the larger gears rather than gearing down just to get up a hill with little resistance. The trade-off is that it’s much more difficult especially going up a hill or grade. But the choice is yours; how hard do you want to work for improvement? Play it safe or push the envelope? I face that choice each time I ride. If I want to improve my time, I have to push harder than last time.

The same scenario can be found in the gym. Many people want to complete every rep of every set with ease never challenging themselves to move outside their comfort zone to improvement. They never break a sweat, never lose or gain an inch (depending on their goals) and soon their workouts lose focus becoming a social outlet or worse yet, they lose interest due to lack of progress. You have to challenge yourself, you have to be willing to push a little further away from the comfort zone you crave & feel safe in.

The “big gear” represents different things to different people. For some it might be coming in a little earlier to spend more time training or doing cardio rather than simply making an appearance at the gym. For others, it might require more planning before they even reach the gym so their workout has a focused plan of attack when they arrive at the gym. For others like me, it requires hanging in there on the heavier and/or more painful sets that will truly bear results. The hardest for me is leg training; the kind that makes you sick to your stomach when doing. The kind of training where you get sore even during the set or immediately after.

But it happens when we decide not to take the easy way out and climb the hills in our life in the easy gears where we can pedal fast with little resistance. It happens when we decide to climb these hills, whether inside the gym or out, in the biggest gear we can possibly use & handle. I’m not going to lie to you, you are going to be tired, even whipped when you finish but you will finish with no regrets knowing you gave it your very best effort!

Your brother in Christ,

Kevin

Who prays for Tommy?

In the episode “Time Squared” of the TV show Star Trek: TNG one of the main characters, Captain Picard, runs into himself from several hours in the future, his double going towards his own certain death. Oddly enough, he can’t interact with the other Picard who is stuck in the time loop; in fact, the other Picard doesn’t interact with anyone only determined to get to his sacrifice he is certain is his purpose. They try restraining him, rationalizing with him…anything to pull him from his loop. The real Picard ends up killing his double to break the loop. It was a thought-provoking episode, but I mention it to talk about those who seemingly are stuck in their own destructive time loop. Perhaps, you have known or know people who have made up their minds and seem determined to head towards their own destruction no matter how hard you try to stop, help or reach out to them. The most exaggerated example in my own life is a local (formerly) competitive bodybuilder. Let’s call him Tommy.

Because of bad choices, Tommy had fixed himself into a destructive loop. Any time you saw Tommy in the gym, if he thought you’d stand still long enough, he’d start a conversation only to turn it back towards himself & his latest dilemma. When I was at that gym, the subject was his divorce & how evil his ex-wife was. Tommy would go on & on easily on her exploits & his victimization at her cruel hands if you didn’t excuse yourself never letting you get a word in edgewise. (Ironically these conversations only took place if you were working out, you couldn’t get him to talk if he were working out). I tried to help Tommy by introducing him to Divorce Care at my church & a men’s bible study. Tommy never made it to divorce care & only made the men’s meeting once. Tommy didn’t want help.

Tommy talked to whoever would listen & if you listened long enough, he would ask for money. I gave Tommy money to pay a bill once but instead of looking for a more consistent/better paying job (he was a personal trainer at the time so he could be at the gym long enough to get ready for his next contest) he asked me for more each time. In fact many in the gym came to avoid him because he asked for money. When I suggested he get more steady work, he would just blow me off with a “No, it’s just slow right now” comment & lose interest. As badly as I wanted to, I couldn’t help Tommy. He was unwilling to leave his destructive loop.

After knowing Tommy & others in my own life who seem bent on destruction regardless of what evidence they’re shown they are making destructive choices, they actually CHOOSE destruction over God. The one commonality to each is pride evidenced by stubbornness that they are correct and EVERYONE around them is wrong w/o being willing to explore other options. They often work hard to convince you their alternate reality is reality & what appears to be obvious to everyone else in the world is wrong. This is what leads to the inevitable “train wreck” that awaits each one as predicted in the book of Proverbs for those who shun God’s wisdom to live by their own.

Recently, the Lord has given me new optimism. After witnessing the miracle of restoration in my own father’s life before he passed away, I now know as long as there’s life in the body, there’s hope. What can you & I do to truly help someone who won’t listen to reason or accept help? Never give up praying for these people…never lose hope. God is capable of doing things humans can’t especially when we pray for them. “For nothing is impossible with God.”

Your brother in Christ, Kevin

Recently, I watched the documentary, “Bigger, Stronger, Faster”. It is available on DVD or the Internet. It’s a very thought-provoking documentary & is especially appealing to competitive athletes or families with competitive athletes. The documentary follows a young man (Chris) who chooses not to take steroids while both his older & younger brothers do to pursue their athletic goals. The documentary catalogs his growing disillusionment as he finds that men he idolized as he grew up & physiques he set as goals were obtained using steroids and that the physique ideal he aspired to is out of reach without compromising his views on steroid use. For either the drug-free athlete or steroid user, I highly recommend watching this documentary.

In the movie, Chris’ parents work hard to get him not to define himself by his physical achievement or measure greatness as the world measures physical greatness. They try to get him to realize that his idea of true success can’t be measured by the amount of weight loaded onto the barbell, measuring tape or trophies.

One of the hardest scenes to watch is a very frank talk between Chris & his older brother. Chris’ older brother tries to express he believes he is destined for “greatness” and not some ordinary, mediocre life. You could tell there was some need inside Chris’ older brother that wasn’t being met & that he was still searching for it. He expressed that steroids were a necessary tool for achieving this greatness that eluded him. Chris asked his older brother at what cost would he pursue this dream? At the cost of his wife & family? His brother cried as he realized that his dream collided with those things he loved the most and that at some point, he may have to put down his dream or risk losing all those in his life who loved him when his dreams collided with them.

If steroids are a temptation to you or if you believe they are necessary to achieve your goals; let me encourage you. You are unique just as you are! Don’t define yourself so narrowly or singularly by putting all your eggs in one basket: the basket of physical achievement. You are so much more than that! Now in my 25^th year of weightlifting, I can’t tell you how many I’ve seen take steroids and at the very best shorten their athletic career and at worst get injured or die. Steroids return so little to your life, you have to ask yourself, is it really worth it? This is not what God had in mind when He told us honor our bodies because it is the temple of God. It reminds me of the question Jesus asks, “What will you gain if you own the whole world but destroy yourself? What would you give in exchange for your own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

You don’t need steroids; you need a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Anything that you place ahead of God then becomes your god. God isn’t a 2^nd place God, He’s all or nothing. When you take steroids, you are placing your faith in something man-made & placing it ahead of your faith in God. Place God first in your life and see what He does with it. Chances are, His plans are more fantastic than yours but first you have to believe that He is who He says He is and that He is more powerful than anything on this planet. Steroids included.

Your brother in Christ,

Kevin