Trust

When you take the first step of  a journey, you never really know where it will end.

Where.

Or if.

Check the map.

Plan your route.

Nothing ever happens the way you expect.

Nothing.

Do I say that like it's a bad thing?

Of course not.

Fate, Destiny, call it what you want.

It's for people who abdicate control.

It's for people who give up freedom.

It's for people who sacrifice their right to choose at the altar of an easy life.

Today's Training:

a1) Tactical Pull-Ups x 24kg KB x 2

a2) Tactical Pull-Ups x 3

a3) Halos x 24kg KB X 10

Repeat x5 Rest 60s between sets

b1) Tactical Pull-Ups x 5

b2) Swings x 20

Repeat x5. Rest 60s between sets

c) VWC

x 10 Minutes

d1) Tactical Pull-Ups x 5

d2) Decline Push-Ups x 10

Repeat x5. Rest 60s between sets

My life has changed direction.

Things I thought were true proved to be false.

Maybe they had always been so, maybe I only just realised.

Either way, the path I started out on, the destination I had intended, have shifted dramatically.

We can't choose our destination, only aim at it.

And we can't choose our travel companions either.

But as my direction has changed, an unexpected number of people have changed with me.

As a trainer, I know people put their trust in me.

As my direction has changed, the people who trusted me have changed with me.

But today, two people who have no reason to trust me, who barely know me, also changed direction with me.

To quote Mathew Broderick's character Ferris Bueller, from the excellent movie 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it."
It's all too easy to forget to stop and look around.

But sometimes you get a reminder.

Like I did today, when these two people - let's call them strangers, because that's virtually what they are - changed direction with me.

And what did I say when I stopped to look around?

I see all the people who trust me.

As a trainer.

As a friend.

As a man.

And I see me.

Is the me I see always worthy of that trust?

Not always.

But today, I am.

Because today, I stopped and looked around.

And I realised that these people who trust my honesty, my knowledge, my skills...

These people deserve to be able to trust me, and to believe in me.

And so do I.

And as of today, I believe.

Believe with me.

Or not.

Your choice.

That's the nature of trust.

General Out

Today

Today's Training:
a1) Tactical Pull-Ups x 5
a2) Sprawl  Push-Ups x 10
Repeat 10 times, 30 secs rest between sets

b1) Tactical Pull-Ups x 5
b2) Wrestlers Bridge x 10
Repeat 10 times, 30 secs rest between sets

As of today, I weigh 86kg. Fight date is, I believe 16th April, weight limit 90kg - it's nice to be this relaxed about my weight before a fight, I feel so strong at this heavier weight, and I know there's more to come - much more.

Any other business?

Yeah.

Whoever you are
Why ever you're reading this
Love me or hate me

Take the past...
And just let it go.

Now is all we have.

Treat every rep like it's your last,
Treat every word as if it's important..because it is.
As my friend Mitch once said to me
"The mike is always on"
And if you have someone in your life that you love...tell them.
Because, even without dead birds falling from the skies and three full moons in a row, there's still no tomorrow.

          What are you waiting for?

          Or better still, start your own.

Is my mike on?
Good.
Pay attention:
There's NO tomorrow.
Coulda-shoulda-woulda...
If you have to do something important:
Do it now.

General Out

Turn Up The Volume

Today's Training:
(throughout the day)

Burpee Pull-Ups x 150
Decline Push-Ups x 300
Pull-Ups x 150

Yes, really. Just that.

And this is how it's gonna be for the next few days.
Partly because really want to see how high volume of such simple exercises affects my body.
And partly because it's all I can do at the moment (although tomorrow may see the addition of some swings)

Further to yesterday's post, I'd like to thank those of you have mailed and texted your support and backing, even, in fact especially, those of you who don't know what'[s being going on in Craigy-world recently.

In adversity, we know our true friends.
And as I've said on this page before..
If you're not my friend, you really don;t want to be in my way anymore.

No more Mr Nice Guy?
If you know me, you know the truth of who, and how, I am.

The volume experiment continues tomorrow...you can sit back all day, log onto your PC at night, and read how it's affecting me...
Or you could get involved and do it yourself.
Get in the game.
Get off your ass, every hour, on the hour:
5 sets of 10 push-ups - how long is that gonna take?

If you don't fancy burpees, or can't do pull-ups where you are, just hit some bodyweight squats, maybe some planks.

Stop reading.

Stop thinking.

Start doing.

Your life is ending right now
But the rest of your life starts...
right here
right now

Don't be a spectator.

General Out

Dawn

I am back.
I know you have missed me.

Every moment we die and are re-born.
More than ever, that process makes sense to me now.
This evolution, this revolution, overtakes everything.
Truths we knew turn out to be false.

When the sun shines, everyone is your friend.
In the Darkness, you find out the truth.
The truth of who will stand by you, and who won't.

How you use this truth shapes your future...
Your relationships,

Your path,

Your whole life.

The sun is rising.
I am re-born.
Tougher.
Stronger.
More Alive.

The General...

Squared

Version 2.0

Upgraded

Improved.

And knowing who my friends are.

Training, Day One, starts tomorrow.
We attack at dawn.

General Out.

Ask yourself this question:

Nothing I could say today makes more sense than this, from my good friend Snake:

"I often get asked why I train so hard. I do it because one day I will need to be strong. Someday, somebody will find themselves in a situation when they will depend on me being strong, and when that happens, that child or mother or elderly person will get saved. So, don't ask why I train, instead ask yourself why you don't?"

You can answer this question, right?

General Out

Wake Up.

Before I comment on anything else:

I failed to post yesterday.

So...

Yesterday's Training:

am

a) 5 x Tactical Pull-Ups/10 x Sprawl Push-ups on the minute every minute for ten minutes

b) 10 x Wrestlers Bridge/10 x Spetsnaz Rolls (all with 5kg Medicine Ball)

Repeat 5 times, 30 seconds break

pm

a) Weighted Tactical Pull-Ups x 5 x 5

b) Deadlift x 90kg x 1rep every 15 secs x 25 mins (total volume 9 tonnes)

And, furthermore...

Today's Training:

a) Weighted Tactical Pull-Ups x 5 x 5

b) TGUs x 3 x 3

c) VWC x 20 minutes

Total Swings for The Month: 3530

If you're still reading...thank you.

I've been getting a lot of feedback about my opinions recently, most of it good, and I'm genuinely surprised at how many of you are reading this.

So, again...

Thank you.

I'm pretty tired and achy today, so I'm not going to post loads.

I'm just going to wonder out loud, again, how so much dis-information and BS turns into main stream 'gym knowledge'?

Why

Do the scrawny boys with no functional strength or muscle size feel the need to do a nonsense of an exercise like decline bench press?

Why

Do the overweight guys with no functional strength or stamina think that endless bicep curls will help them towards the look they desire?

Why

Are so many women - and some men - afraid of lifting either themselves or iron because they believe they'll get 'muscle bound'

Why

Is form valued so much over function in the west?

Am I always right?

No.

Ov Corz not...but I'm never wrong - my opinions are just different.

If you're reading this, chances are that yours are too.

So please...spread the word.

Speak out.

Before we become drowned out by the flood of vanity based training and cookie-cutter programmes that are designed to be 'easy and do-able' rather than effective.

Mitch and I have a programme.
Is it do-able?
Ask me in March.
Is it easy?
Hell no!
Because if it was, it would be pointless.

The guys I train have a programme - even if they don't always realise it.

You should have one too

Without a programme,

Without goals,

You're not training...

At best you're exercising, at worst you're lying to yourself.

And this isn't just about being big, being strong, being fit.

Because...

If you're the guy who can't walk upstairs without getting out of breath.

If you're the guy who can't push or pull his own weight around.
If you're the guy who can't act when action is needed.

Then really...

What use are you?
To your family, your friends, your neighbours.
I'm not saying we should all have skills and training.

But I am saying this:

If my kid had fallen in the street, I'd want to be able to run out in front of a car and scoop him to safety.

Wouldn't you?

Would you?
Could you/

Wake up and smell the coffee.

Because too many of you are sleeping.

General Out

Responsibility

Today has so far been an irritated mix of cancellations and lost time.

I had 2 last minute cancellations (not you, Croc), following on from another of the same Friday evening.

As a trainer, it's frustrating to put time and effort into helping people, only to be left feeling that their goals are more important to me than they are to them.

It's something that's all to common in today's society...

Abdication Of Responsibility

It's not just training related.

It's life related.

It's society related.

It's personality related.

How often do we see a crime or incident on the news, and we're either told, or it's glaringly obvious, that passers by could have made a difference, but they didn't.

Didn't stop and help, or just didn't care.

Either way, they then share the responsibility for the bad thing that happened.

Because if you have the power to prevent something happening, but you choose not to, you are responsible for that thing happening.

Just because something is not your fault, it doesn't mean it's not your responsibility.

Every time you, I, or anyone abdicates responsibility, the world around us becomes a fraction worse. It slips a little deeper into decline.

Isn't today's blog about training?

Of course it is.

When you hear people say 'training is my life' they are often laughed at.

But if we take the lessons that we can learn from the Iron and apply them to everyday life, then we become better people, better members of society.

Hopefully, better Sheepdogs.

At the very least, better sheep.

Today's Training:

am:

a) Renegade Rows x 5 x 5

b) Double KB Front Squats x 5 x 5

c) VWC x 20 minutes

pm:

a1) Clean & Press x 5L/R / 20 Swings

a2) Halos x 10 / 20 Swings

a3) Snatch x 5L/R / 20 Swings
Repeat 4 times, minimal rest
b) Swings x 25 on the minute every minute for 10 minutes.

Total Swings for The Month: 3090

And not abdicating responsibility applies to ourselves as much as anyone else.

I sit here irritated by lack of commitment...but then I think.

How many days of my life have been wasted in pointless activities, in doing nothing, when I could have been training, or learning?

I've written on this page before about how my training was limited by time.

But it's just an excuse.

How long does a 20 min VO2 Max VWC set take?

Yeah, that's right, 20 minutes.

How long do 10 minutes of Tabatta swings take?

10 minutes.

Correct, have a gold star.

Is anyone's day really that busy?

No.

Maybe you choose to prioritise training below other things.

That's fine.

Just don't claim not to have time.

And don't bitch that the results aren't coming.

Effort In = Results Out

Providing you have a solid training plan, that is.

But we've talked about that before, haven't we?

I lose count of the number of people who say to me:

'But I spend 2 hours a day in the gym, why aren't I getting results?'

Because I have no idea how long you spend training, but in my experience the more time someone spends in the gym, the less time they spend training.

Does this sound familiar?

Stop dreaming...
This is real life.
Stop talking...
When you should be acting.

Whay you know doesn't matter.
What you do, matters.
Becasue you, I, everyone of us...
We become what we do.

General Out