Dan

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable

As the new year quickly approaches, I believe it’s a good time to talk about stepping outside of your comfort zone. It’s human nature for us to choose the easy route and do what we are comfortable with, like waking up and taking a hot shower. That feels good, doesn’t it? What if I told you to take a cold shower? You’d probably laugh and brush it off. What if I told you to work out every day this week? You’d probably come up with some excuses like you have no time, but the thing is I never said your workout needed to be an hour long. You see, we instantly think of how difficult it would be to do something uncomfortable so we make up excuses. Now what happens if we step outside of our comfort zone? I always hated running because let’s face it, it’s hard. Fast forward to today and I’m signed up to run a marathon, aka 26.2 miles! I’m doing this because I wanted to step outside of my comfort zone. I wanted to do something that would be mentally and physically challenging, something that I would have to work hard for. Let me tell you, to this day I am very uncomfortable when I’m running (especially my long runs), but pushing myself has taught me a lot. Pushing through all of the days of being uncomfortable has only made me stronger. It has made me comfortable with being uncomfortable. So, while you’re coming up with your New Year’s Resolutions, think of things that make you uncomfortable. Pursue those things and don’t stop doing it until you’re comfortable with being uncomfortable.

-Dan

www.ovoxmorganville.com/trainers/dan/

 

How to build big legs

I have a secret to tell you guys. If you train legs more frequently they will grow! The common training routine for legs is 1x per week. With one compound movement (squat, leg press, etc..) followed by isolation moments (leg curl, leg extension, etc..). Leg day can always seem like an intense workout. You may also feel very sore days after training legs and not want to come close to training them again for at least another 5-7 days. The strange thing is if you were to train them more frequently it would actually make them feel less sore. Training legs 2-4x per week is ideal for growth. Here’s what you should focus on. Lower body compound movements such as back squat , front squat, leg press, Bulgarian split squat and deadlifts. Make it your goal to add 30-50lbs to each lift by next year. Each time you train legs do a different rep range and add variety such as pauses, chains, bands, and tempo. One day you can do volume (5×5,4×10 etc). The next can be more heavy and intense (work up to 1 rep max, 5×3). This does not mean you’re neglecting your upper body. You can squat in the beginning of a workout and follow them up with an upper body workout. Give this a try and make sure you’re eating right, drinking plenty of water and stretching post workout. Recovery is very important when training muscles more frequently. 

-Dan, OVOX Trainer

To read more about Dan, click here