Jacked by Snacks Personal Training and Powerlifting

loves leg day, especially when we finish with glutes. This girl works hard and smiles through the workouts, right after complaining about them. :)

Good morning All,

I wanted to share with you all some advice I've learned over the years in fitness and really in life. Motivation is a fake idea that we feel that we need to get through something hard. Motivation comes and goes, and cannot be something that you can count on there to be available when you need it. What you actually need to depend on is yourself. Work on your discipline. Develop methods to make yourself more disciplined. Jocko Wilink, Jordan Peterson, Joe Rogan and many more main stream pod casters and authors preach this all the time. I was even more recently reminded of this by my boy Michael Bales.

Point is, discipline equals freedom. If you're disciplined, you won't have to wake up and look for that song or inspirational quote to get you going. You won't have to turn it up to 11 and blast Katy Perry to get you through your cardio or lifting session, it will just happen. You won't be program hopping or looking for the best cycle to run or nutrition plan, you'll find one that works for you and stick with it. You'll stop comparing yourself to ever other person out there and become stronger and fitter than ever before.

If you're going to ask how to work on that....well here are some tips that I use...

- Prep all my meals for three days at a time. I do it this way because if something is not agreeing with my gut or I feel weaker, I can reevaluate my nutrition for the week and make adjustments like adding more carbs or protein.

- Pick a time to go to bed and then a time to wake up, don't do the "well if I go to bed now, I can get x amount of sleep. Picking a time hardens your routine. Makes it more tangible.

- Pick a fitness goal, then write down the next two goals that you want to achieve after that goal, then 2 more after that. Play the long game, not the short game.

- Have fun. This whole getting in shape, jacked, ripped, swole... whatever it is, just program in some fun in there somewhere. Remind yourself why you're doing what you're doing.

- Take notes. Electronic, Social Media posts or however you want. Just keep some type of log what you've done. You'll need it and want it to refer back to.

- If you slow down or screw up, just start back where you started. Review your notes, find out what happened. Did you get lazy? Burned out? Injured? Your notes should paint a clear picture.

For those that listen to music, what are your favorite songs to work out to? I'll add them to my public playlist (link in bio).

How important is music to your workout? Do you need Rob Zombie or Vanilla Ice blasting in your Beats by Dre or can you listen to whatever and still get by? I'm good either way, sometimes I have headphones in with no music and pretend that I can't hear people tracking to me.

Okay, truth bomb coming your way for those that want to become a Powerlifter, so take cover if you want to continue to live in a fantasy world....

Just because you are obese and new to lifting, doesnt mean Powerlifting is for you. In fact, I would aruge that Powerlifting is exactly the opposite of what you need. What you need is to master the basic BW movements, be able to walk 30mins without dying and be able to work harder than you have before. Just because we do not run or a majority of the PLers out there do not boast about their diet, doesn't mean that we are not conditioned for our lifting style.

When I have clients, obese or not, I do not let them under the bar until they can perform a BW squat with a strong/straight back, feet flat on the ground, able to maintain balanced, I even add in the ability to jump to a 18-20" box. Also, I make sure they can perform a few pushups before you start benching.

This is meant for their safety, but also, there is ZERO reason to add resistance to movements, if you cannot execute the movements without resistance (other than gravity)....but Ben, I want to get stronger....oh you will get stronger if take it slow and do things correctly. Yeah, you may be able to squat or other compound movements, but you're likely going to do it with such crap form, you will either get hurt or you'll suck because you're half-a$$ing the movements.

Also, say you can do all those things, but you want to go heavy because of your ego...well, I got news for you, your ego will be destroyed when you actually start lifting. No matter what your set/rep scheme looks like, you will never be strong enough, there is always someone out there stronger than you, so let your crap attitude go and focus on yourself. I promise, when you do, you will become stronger than you have thought possible.

If you are following a nutrition plan at the macro level, you need a food scale and measure your food. The packedge says there should be 280g of rice, the lie detector determined that was a lie. As I'm learning even more now, diet and nutrition is a huge part of the game of fitness and performance. You got to stick to a plan. It'll suck, but so does 20 rep squats or drop sets. So if you're going to train hard, why not commit 100% to it all.

A very special 30th (+/-2 years) birthday to my wife ! She's the one that holds it together, she's the one that pushes this family and she's the one that can't reach things off the top shelf. You're aging like a fine wine.

It isn't creepy, it's Valentine's Day. Big was challenging to hold early this morning but we had to do it for the gram.

Fellas at quit being nasty slobs. There seems to be this new trend of putting nut powder on your junk while hovering over the bench.or just walking around the bathroom, leaving your un**es in the floor, with you drinks while walking around the gym muddy. It's getting out of hand. If you see someone doing this crap, call them out. @ Frankies Body Shop The Gym and Personal Training