Positive Mind Positive Life

One of the things I love most about the barbell is that the same habits and mentalities that bring you success in the gym will give you success in life. When approaching a PR attempt if you are messed up in your own head and not confident then there's a damn good chance you will miss the lift. When you doubt yourself there is no doubt. (Put that on a shirt!) Think about how this applies to something as basic as asking a pretty girl out for coffee. It isn't always about if you are good looking enough it's so much more about how confident and comfortable in your own skin. This is why you see some really ugly dudes with some inexplicably hot ladies.

In the gym when you do miss a lift or have a bad work out it's huge to be able to realize you still had a training day where you hit some numbers that will help you get stronger in the long run. You don't have to PR every day. Heck PRing every day will eventually break something off your body which is less than ideal. This mentality will help a ton with your career and business goals as well. Realizing that you aren't going to set the world on fire with sales and profits every single day or that if you make a mistake and totally screw the pooch on a project is extremely helpful. Know that it wasn't your best day but that you learned something from your mistakes. It all goes in the sweat bank.

So take a moment and think of what other ways gym philosophy applies to life. I know there are a ton more.

In the end it comes down to: Positive Mind Positive Life. Negative Mind Negative Life.

You get to choose your mindset.

Talk soon,

Dan is a nationally ranked amateur

strongman competitor in the 242lb

and 275lb classes and a powerlifter in the 275lb class. He holds instructor level ranks in Taekwondo, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He as been training people for strength and martial arts since 2004.

You can follow Dan on Instagram @RoninStr
For training and nutrition advice and tips email roninstr@gmail.com and stay tuned here.

Be a Sore Loser

Back a few months ago it became apparent that grit and focus are huge weaknesses for me in competition. Others may not see it but I can feel it in my bones festering like a disease. I always start strongman shows feeling like a monster and this one was no exception. It probably doesn't hurt that press events are usually first and that's the one thing I am somewhat decent at. Then at some point an event or two down the road I get smoked and I just can't get it into my head that it's not over and I still have a shot if I just stay focused and perform well on the rest of the events. After all, I have trained hard for this show. It's not that I get down on myself and act like puppy who just got booted. I just joke around more and appear to be "having fun." That's total horse shit though. Inside I am pissed. I didn't drive to Kentucky or Illinois. to get second or third place and have fun. I came to win whole damn thing. I usually have some friends and family there and it's embarrassing to lose in front of loved ones. Call me what you will but there is no second or third place only first and second loser. So why the heck am I putting up a front that says, "this is fun," when inside I am seething and ready to explode? How do you get in there and harness the rage? Is it that I don't know how to or is it that I have always been told to be a good sport and play nice. To not be the crazy guy in the corner yelling at himself like a schizophrenic. Even if that same guy is the one who comes back and wins it all. Who cares if he is a bit of an attention whore and too "intense?" Since when is intensity a bad thing? If that's what it takes for him to get his head on straight then so be it. Who is anyone to judge. I've decided that the next show I go to will be different. If I'm not winning I will not shy away from my emotions. I won't get distracted or light-hearted. I will focus in, buckle up, and press on like the damn juggernaut I am trying to be. Call me a poor sport. Call me a jack ass. That's fine but I'll be the one with the gold. If not today then tomorrow. Some people are born with drive and grit. Others have to be intentional and practice it every day. 

Train hard. Compete hard.

Talk Soon

Dan Mason

 Dan is a nationally ranked amateur

strongman competitor in the 242lb

and 275lb classes. He holds instructor

level ranks in Taekwondo, Muay Thai,

and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He as been

training people for strength and martial

arts since 2004.

The Barbell Gets Me

 

Normal people confide in their friends. Most folks have a close few people who "get" them. Sometimes I feel that I have people like that in my life. But as is the natural ebb and flow of life these people duck in and out of existence. They move away. They make a mistake and get cut from your life like a cancerous tumor. The people are many as are the reasons for transition. The one constant. The one thing in life that is always there, always consistent, is the weight of an empty barbell in your hands ready to be loaded up. Ready to work with you until it feels what you are going through. Ready to break you until you understand what is dragging you down or lifting you up. Like a quiet unjudging friend. Like a therapist who listens to you until you figure out the answers for yourself. There is no coddling, no disagreeing, no yes men. Just truth and struggle. While you are there with your friend, your confidant, your nemesis, the rest of the world is dim like a thunderstorm at dusk. Here you are safe from the trouble of work, relationships, and finances. Here you are paid in muscle. Your soul is fed by PRs. Your work, no matter how earth shattering  or disappointing, baths your body in the drunken cocktail of endorphins and adrenaline. There is no one who gets you like the barbell. 

Get to it. Your therapy is waiting.


Talk Soon

Dan Mason

 Dan is a nationally ranked amateur

strongman competitor in the 242lb

and 275lb classes. He holds instructor

level ranks in Taekwondo, Muay Thai,

and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He as been

training people for strength and martial

arts since 2004.

RoninSTR@gmail.com
Periscope: @RoninStr

Instagram: @RoninStr
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVA3x_kvPOFMsxouGjhYRnQ

Ode to the Erectors

Ah the juxtaposition that is the lower back and all of its glorious muscles and connective tissues. You stabilize my core until I break you. You lift monstrous weights until they bend you. You work and you toil. You hurt and you boil with the rage and pain my lack of glute work causes you. Thank you for picking up the slack. Thank you for teaching me the hard lesson that hamstrings matter. Maybe if you wouldn't let me lift such big weights it would be easy to fix my technique but you are always there for a heavy triple. Ah but never for a ten rep max. Singles are your joy and reps are your death. Strongman is my enemy and powerlifting my king. But alas I must slay may enemy and give the finger to my king. I will have no ruler but my enemies will rival the stars. Fix the movement or rely on pressing and fast feet....maybe a bit of both. Cheers to you my loyal and bellicose back. May you stay strong and stable and may I not end you.

Talk Soon

Dan Mason

 Dan is a nationally ranked amateur

strongman competitor in the 242lb

and 275lb classes. He holds instructor

level ranks in Taekwondo, Muay Thai,

and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He as been

training people for strength and martial

arts since 2004.

RoninSTR@gmail.com
Periscope: @RoninStr

Instagram: @RoninStr
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVA3x_kvPOFMsxouGjhYRnQ

You Are Not A Snowflake!

“You are not special. You're not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. We're all part of the same compost heap. We are the all singing, all dancing crap of the world.” This is a quote from Fight Club. It's a bit dire. It doesn't make us feel warm fuzzies. We have been told for so long that we are unique in personality and natural gift. This may be true in those aspects of life, but when it comes to starting a workout plan when you are a beginner or intermediate you just aren't a damn snowflake. You don't need to pay someone $100 a month to program something specific for you. Go spend $19.99 and buy an ebook like 531, Strength Lab, 5x5 Stronglifts, The Cube Method, or any of the other multitudes of options out there. If you have only been lifting seriously for a few years you can follow any program (and actually follow it for 6 months) and get great results. For the casual lifter or the inexperienced one it's that easy. Once you are an advanced lifter you can start to become a unique snowflake of specialness, but not in the way you think. The uniqueness comes in the form of where your weaknesses are and how crappy your technique is. Even at this point your uniqueness is more about coaching movement patterns than about getting a whole special program out for you. At most you will get a corrective exercise or two to add in. Don't over think your program. If it has big compound movements in it as the main chunk then you are probably on the right track. If you are wanting to compete in a muscle or strength sport then having a coach is going to matter more. Scour the internet for what world record lifters trained like the first decade of serious lifting is pretty much like this: Lift weights, eat food, and lift heavier weights as time progresses, and more food. There's no crazy trick. It's just dedication and consistency. Oh crap .... I forgot I do online coaching and programming.....ignore this post. 

When to pay for online coaching/programming:

1. You want to compete.

2. You want accountability and have no friends.

3. You want to sound important by saying you have a personal coach doing things for you.

4. You want someone to blame other than yourself if you decide to not follow the plan and get poor results.

5. You want shout outs on social media (once again because you have no friends)

Talk Soon

Dan Mason

 Dan is a nationally ranked amateur

strongman competitor in the 242lb

and 275lb classes. He holds instructor

level ranks in Taekwondo, Muay Thai,

and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He as been

training people for strength and martial

arts since 2004.

RoninSTR@gmail.com
Periscope: @RoninStr

Instagram: @RoninStr
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVA3x_kvPOFMsxouGjhYRnQ

The Crush Life List

We all are familiar with "To Do Lists" or "The Honey Do List." What are your initial feelings when you think about these. Are you excited to accomplish these tasks? Do they feel like a burden? Does the list just get so long that you never finish so you just top making them? Today let me introduce you to the concept of the "Crush Life List" or "Kill the Day List." Use whichever you prefer. How different would your motivation be by just changing the title? This simple change does a few important things, at least for me. First, it makes me feel like more of a bad ass even if "do the laundry" is on there. Also this title lets me know that accomplishing these tasks won't just knock a task out it will help get me somewhere in life. Third it makes what gets put on the list more selective. For example laundry probably wouldn't make the list in most cases, but if you have no clothes to wear and you don't want to wear smelly dirty gym clothes tomorrow it should probably be task number 1.

This all sounds fine and dandy but there are a few rules we should follow that have served me well. First there are definitely things that should not make the list. These include anything that you do every day or things that you do automatically. So if you are like me and train hard 4 or 5 days a week and have been for a number of years then "go the the gym and workout" won't be on the list. If you are trying to establish that as a habit then it definitely should be. Everything on the list should be an activity that is not happening every day and gets you closer to reaching  your personal goals. Lastly try not to go crazy. 4 or 5 things on this list per day will be about perfect. You probably can knock them all out in a few hours. So buckle down and get them done. It's great how streamlined your day becomes when you have clear goals and expectation. The distractions go down and productivity goes up. Think of where your life could be if you nailed 4 things this productive every day for a year. That list of 4 little goals turns into 1460 accomplishments in that time. 

Let's take me for an example. Here's today's kill list:

1. come up with 2 awesome shirt concepts and draw them up

2. Finalize dates for upcoming strength seminars

3. Dry run the lectures of the seminars to figure out a timeline

4. Outline a loose marketing strategy for upcoming challenge groups

5. Write a blog post

I knocked this list out in 2 and a half hours. If I nail 4 points like that every day. By next year I should be making a good chunk of change on my side gig here and will be helping tons of other people just like me reach their personal goals! How cool is that?

I want to challenge you guys to make a Crush List and get it done. Do it for a month and let me know how it goes. What were the struggles? What were the rewards? Comment below or email me. I really am interested in seeing what building this practice does for you guys. I know it has laid some amazing groundwork for me.

Talk Soon

Dan Mason

 Dan is a nationally ranked amateur

strongman competitor in the 242lb

and 275lb classes. He holds instructor

level ranks in Taekwondo, Muay Thai,

and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He as been

training people for strength and martial

arts since 2004.

RoninSTR@gmail.com

Instagram: @RoninSTR
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVA3x_kvPOFMsxouGjhYRnQ