Entries Tagged 'Deep Thoughts' ↓

Its been a bitter/sweet week for me.

The book is almost done, the pictures are taken and I’m super excited about the launch. But on Wednesday, I found out my grandfather died.

With this news, I had two avenues in front of me. A) I could have just stopped what I was doing, locked myself inside my emotions and just fall into an unneeded depression, or B) I can suck it up, stay positive and deal with the emotional aspect of it through your loves and passions.

I chose B! and I also chose to share with the world what I do when I need to remain positive.

Friends, family and Iron. That’s the keys to my remedy.

Check out video about my experiences. If you are a military member , police or firefighter, adversity and tragedy is almost all too common, so properly dealing with it is vital to survival.

Stay Strong!

When I started blogging, over a year ago on my skinnykidslog.blogspot.com site, I did it just for the hell of it. I knew I had a witty writing style, and I needed an online training log. Why not combine them.

Flash forward to today, i’m up to my pie hole in SEO(search engine optimization) knowledge and I sometimes forget to write for myself, not for the computer bots that will help my website succeed.

Its a complete catch 22.

The beauty of writing my newest book, “Maximize your PT” is that I don’t have to worry about putting keywords like “military fitness”, “firefighter fitness” or “Strength training” in the post ( see what I did there? ). I can just write about things I know and am passionate about. Sometimes that leads to rambles, but I don’t care. I think that when listening to a smart person speak, the ramble is where you learn the most. Pre-thought out words are nice, but they don’t show the true emotion of someone who loves what they are preaching.

Try to remember this when your blogging or reading a blog ” Do I sound like I’m passionate about what I do?” If you aren’t, Is it because you’re not passionate, or are you trying to please someone other than yourself? People will appreciate a good personality and a “human” feel much more than a robot spiting out the next greatest thing in the fitness world.  Welcome to web 2.0!

 

As I promised, heres a couple paragraphs from the “unconventional training” section of the new Ebook, “Maximize your PT” Its being finished finished as we speak and after editing and everything else that I have no idea how to do gets done, You’ll be able to own it for a VERY reasonable price.

 …………..Odd object and unconventional training is what I do, love and rant about constantly. The beauty of this style training is its cheap, effective and efficient.
A) cheap- You don’t need a gym membership, big weight set or any fancy machines. Most of the equipment I use was given to me by people wanting to get rid of it. Example. I have 4 different sized tractor tires, ranging from 300lbs to 700 lbs. All of which were FREE! In fact, the most expensive piece of equipment I own is a set of dumbbells with plate weights and a 20 dollar sledge hammer.
That’s it!
B) effective. This stuff works, plain and simple. It gives your body the necessary strain it required to force the adaptation of a stronger, healthier body, mind and spirit, ready to fight!

C) efficient. 20-30 minutes of circuit style training with odd objects is the rational equivilent to an 60-90 minutes of conventional cardiovascular training and 45 minutes of weight training. With functional training, you have the heavy weights need to gain strength and size, combined with the fast pace needed to elevate the heart rate and burn calories.

K.I.S.S.—- Keep It Simple, Stupid! it’s a motto I live by. Too many times I come across people who just over complicate their training and end up either confused and giving up, or not seeing the results they desire.

Theres no need to reinvent the wheel!

The things im saying to you right now were not made up by me. Its true, all im doing is taking older methods of training and implementing them into a different setting. The same results will yield for all, the only difference is the sport of event that you are training for…………

Keep up that “new years spirit” and you’ll succeed!

Hey guys,

I attended the Raw Unity powerlifting meet this past weekend in Tampa Bay, Florida and got a chance to hang out with a buncha big hitters in the powerlifting world.

Among the lifters, Military member and world class powerlifter Mike Schwanke was there. You might remember him from the interview I conducted with him last year. Let me tell you, this guys is hilarious in person. Ball buster extraordinaire, definitely a pro! Jo “don’t call me Joe” Jordan was also there, along with Criticalbench.com’s  Mike Westerdal.

While they weren’t looking, I started filming, for no apparent reason. Little did I know that they were conducting a secret meeting and I apparently wasn’t invited.

Check out this light hearted video of my super secret squirrel undercover camera. I think i need to add some camouflage to it next time. What do ya think?

 

Talk to later this week with more combat fitness training for the worlds military, policemen and firefighters. Train hard, people!

When i began my fitness journey, I was 21 years old and over 40% BF. I was 315 lbs with little to no muscle to be found

I began with simple cardio and cleaning up my diet. That eventually led to weight training and a detailed ketosis diet, which got me down to 275 pounds within 5-6 months. I made it down to 250 by the end of that year.

By then, weight training had consumed my life and I was gaining mass by the hour. Perfect eating, 5 day/week training (I called it working out back then) and I eventually made it down to 230lbs and about 18% BF%. When I joined the army, I shrunk down to 200lbs, but that was lack of weight training and over abundance of cardiovascular training and combat tactical training.

today, i train with heavy weights, plyometrica and odd objects, affording me the ability complete in strongman competitions, complete military PT tests and weigh in at over 275lbs(yes folks, that’s not a typo) and still jump onto an over 40″ platform with a 21″ vertical leap.

My story is probably an atypical one with plenty of ups and downs. To this day i still suffer highs and lows and I don’t see it ending anytime soon(good lord willing). So, what about you?

Click the little comment box below and tell me a small story in your journey through life and fitness. I spill my guts every week, keeping you abreast of my life, training and happenings, I’d like to know a little something about the people who read my ramblings.

Thanks for playing along with me here. There’s nothing more inspiring to me than hear someones tale about overcoming adversity or old habits.

Remember, just click the “comments” link below and start typing! I thank you in advance

-Donnie

PS spread the word about the new site. Every body knows somebody who needs to get motivated in life, and i’d be honored to help.