How to Grind When It Matters

If you have ever done CrossFit or a set of as many reps as possible like in Wendler's 531 then you know what I'm talking about. So how do you get into the mindset to keep moving when your body is screaming for you to stop?


Here are some tricks that have helped me in the past. For all you CrossFittians out there it seemed to be about pacing for me. At least on the longer WODs. If you go out of the gate like a cannon you will be burned out so fast. Now if you say "screw pacing" like I always did then there are a few methods that work out nicely.

1. On something like Helen, which is 3 Rounds of 400m run, 21 Kettlebell Swings and 12 Pull Ups, I would always count up to the half way point so up to 6  Pull Ups then count down to 0. Not sure whey this helps but it always did for me. On the Kettlebell Swings i'd go to 11 then down from 10-0. Now if you are just a dude in the gym trying to find a 15 rep max squat this strategy works pretty awesome as well.

2. Once you hit that run on Helen it's a bit different. On the cardio grind, focus on your breathing when you can make it rhythmic you tend to be distracted enough to not realize your body hates you as much. Also it makes sure you are getting a full lung of air. People tend to breathe more shallow when they are mid WOD for some reason.

3. Another tool that's been useful is a mantra. Two that work for me are: "Just keep moving" and "just one more rep (you damn pussy)." the last part gets added if it's a bad training day. These are awesome because you can always fall down into that burpee and can always get back up. Just keep moving! If you do that you will hit more reps than your sissy ass was going to before you started talking to yourself. The one more rep mentality helps because usually you can press one more time out of sheer will. Who needs muscle?

So whether you are CrossFittin' like Froning or CrossFattin' like me and Chad Wesley Smith you can benefit from these mental distractions. Finish that run and finish that set! One more Rep you Cotton-Headed Ninny Muggins! (Bonus points if you can name the movie that's from.)

Train hard
Talk soon,

Dan Mason

Strongman competitor in the 242lb and 275lb classes and a pro powerlifter in the RPS 275lb class. He is also an Elite level lifter in the USPA/IPA. He holds instructor level ranks in Taekwondo, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He has been training people for strength and martial arts since 2004. For other fun stuff check his Instagram @RoninStr

Benching Like a Bauss!

So I have a decent bench. Currently my PR is 468lbs in competition and I will hit over 480lbs in August. So you can imagine that I get a ton of questions on how to get a bigger bench. Honestly for me I have always been a decent presser even with my longer than normal arms. I used to never know what to tell people. I actually hate benching. It always hurts and feels wrong. I don't even really have an arch to speak of when pressing, but after I've been asked so many times I figured I should do some soul searching and figure out why I'm not horrible at it so I can help people who are struggling.

So a brief history of me and pressing movements. I started off in martial arts and specifically kickboxing. As a result I did a ton of heavy bag work punching and kicking my life away. I am not sure on the science of it, but to me punching a heavy bag is similar to depth jumps for pressing. Also due to the positioning of a punch there isn't a ton of pec work but a lot of shoulders and tricep action. From there I went to CrossFit and later Strongman. Both have a lot of overhead pressing work thus continuing my tricep and shoulder dominance. I didn't bench all that often when doing strongman in the standard sense but I did a lot of close grip benching and slingshot and block work just to hit the triceps for locking out my log and axle presses. My best bench while I was doing strongman was 385lbs. I know it could have been better if I had hit more chest work but that's not what Strongman tests. Once I switched to powerlifting training and started bringing rep ranges down and my grip out a bit the poundages flew up. 385lbs-470lbs in less than a year. So let's address what happened throughout my training history.

First of all I have been hitting heavy bags since I was 12 years old. I am 33 now. So that means I have been, at least to some degree training my pressing muscles for 21 years. That's a pretty big base. So if you are benching 225lbs, you have been training for 6 months, and you don't know why you aren't pressing in the mid 3's then you need to stop reading now and just keep eating and hitting the weights for another few years. Rule 1 for Bauss Benching: Get some years under your belt.

Training age aside think of how many reps were spent with relatively heavy weights (for me) while training strongman. Ignore the overhead pressing and realize I was hitting close grips, sling shots, or board presses for sets of 6-10 for 4 years straight. That's in addition to the heavy overhead pressing. This is a pretty big hypertrophy base for once I started benching at higher percentages. Rule 2: Hypertrophy phases lay the groundwork for massive presses.

The next step for my bench was actually benching heavy and with a decent frequency. I was hitting more traditional bench presses 2-3 days per week. They were structured with 1 heavy day and 1-2 rep days depending on how I was feeling. Rule 3 for a big bench: Bench heavy once or twice per week.

The last thing that helped me is equal parts mental and physical and that's variety. Don't just flat bench every day. Mix it up a little. Use some chains or bands. Hit some incline bench or dumbbells. If you are hitting your chest, shoulders, and tri's you will be hitting the muscles that need to get stronger to hit bigger numbers. Also hitting those variations will allow you to address any weak spots you may have and prevent you from overuse injuries. For me the biggest part of this concept is that I don't get bored. I did come from CrossFit after all. Variety will keep you engaged with your training. Rule 4: Variety will keep you coming back and progressing.

So out of those are all well and good but I would say rules 2 and 3 have the biggest impact. It's the basic stuff that will always work. Make your muscles bigger with hypertrophy work. Make those muscles stronger with heavier weights. Peak for a month then repeat the process.

Happy benching. Now go get freaking strong!

Talk soon,

Dan is a top 10 ranked amateur

strongman competitor in the 242lb and 275lb classes and a pro powerlifter in the RPS 275lb class. He holds instructor level ranks in Taekwondo, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He has been training people for strength and martial arts since 2004.

You can follow Dan on Instagram @RoninStr and @RoninStrApparel
For training and nutrition advice and tips email roni

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