New Years Resolutions 2010

By now, if you know me personally or are a follower of the blog, you know that I am not a fan of traditional New Years Resolutions. I think if you are making one the way most people do, you are setting yourself up for disappointment and I would bet that you don't last 3 weeks. What do you think will happen on January 1st to magically spur you on towards your goals? If you want something badly enough, set your goal, make a game plan and persist until you achieve it. January 1st is no easier than December 29 to start making strides towards your goal. With that bit out of the way, I know you are going to give yourself a New Years Resolution, or two, or three. With that in mind, let's tackle how I think you should set these up.

Although I think this approach will work for any resolution you make, let's talk fitness or health or weight loss, what ever you want to call it. First pick ONE thing. Please don't say, "This year, I am going to get serious about losing weight, or I am going to lose weight, or exercise more or a host of other broad, useless goals. Take a sheet of paper and hand write out your goal. If you are heavy, then losing an amount of weight is a fine goal. If you are overweight, let's say " I will lose 10 pounds in January, 10 pounds in February, and 10 pounds in March." Boom! 30 pounds lighter by April. If you need to lose weight then steal that one from me. However, I don't think everyone needs to lose weight, most people want to look better naked which is a combination of losing bodyfat and building lean muscle. The number on the scale may not change or it may increase (same for you girls). This one is a tougher one to measure since it is fairly subjective. How about taking out a piece of paper and writing down, " I will perform 15 workouts using weights in January. I will perform 15 conditioning workouts in January." Repeat this for February and March. If you were to do this, you will definitely achieve your goals. Simple, but not easy. Write it on a piece of paper and hang it on the fridge in plain sight. Let's look at this even further and break it into steps:

1. Hand write goal, hang it on fridge. Goal must be very specific and carry a deadline, no open ended commitments. Feel free to steal the 15 and 15 one. The more I think about it, the more I like it.

2. Tell everyone about it. Post it on facebook, ask close friends and family to hold you accountable and be your support team. Its tougher to let others down than yourself.

3. You need to go to CVS, or better yet steal one from the supply closet at work, but get yourself a notebook dedicated to your goal. Now everyday write down what you did to get you closer to your goal. With a marker or red pen, at the end of every day, put a large Win or Loss for how you would rate your performance for that day (nutrition and workout for the day).

4. Keep in mind, not everyone goes undefeated. Let's shoot for 12 wins and 3 losses or better through 15 days. Let's also keep tally of weight workouts and cardio/conditioning workouts for the month. See if you can get to 15 and 15. If you get to 12 and 11, and normally you would do 6 and 6 for a month, we are on our way.

5. Let's take it month by month and day by day versus Lose 50 pounds in 2010. Let's lose 4.166 pounds per month instead and tackle it that way.

Now, if you need more specific help fire me an email at tom@sullivantrainingsystems.com. If you want a plan, that will cost you a couple of bucks. If you have a simple question, that will be free of charge.

PS. Think about joining a 3 day per week class to help you hit your goals. While I think I offer a great program, not everyone can get to Weymouth during the week, so email me if you want to train with me once a week.

The Mighty Ducks

So last night I am scrolling through On-Demand pretty late at night bored and come across the original Mighty Ducks. Haven't seen the original in like 8 years so I hunkered down and watched it while finishing a chicken parm sub from Capone's in Weymouth. Tough to stay lean with a midnight chicken parm, I know. Here are some things to think about:

1. Hans' F#cking skate shop is the size of TD Banknorth Garden. I always thought it was like the basement of some shitty rink. Also, why is he sharpening skates at 1 oclock in the morning when Bombay comes to visit. Definitely a cover up for having women locked in the basement well and dressing up in sexy lingerie.

2. On the roster of the Mighty Ducks is the youngest Pete from Nickelodeon's hit show "the adventures of Pete and Pete". The main character from "Heavyweights" with Ben Stiller as Tony Perkins is a defenseman on the squad. I believe his name was Jerry in HWs.

3. Every kid on the team sucks. I used to be mesmerized at how nasty the Hawks were. Guess what, except for Adam Banks, they suck too.

4. Why didn't I ever question Gordon Bombay's hockey career? Best Pee Wee hockey player in the country, scored 198 points. Misses a penalty shot at the end of regulation in a state championship game and quits hockey. By the end of the movie, Bombay, now probably 35, gets a tryout with a minor league team. So a guy who hasn't skated since he was 10 has a shot to play professional hockey. This is the exact same thing as me trying out for NFL Europe. I once blocked 4 punts in a game against Hingham in Pop Warner (mostly because I was 45 pounds heavier than the poor bastard blocking me), so I guess that qualifies me for professional football.

5. I always remembered Charlie's mom being hotter. Definitely an upgrade in D2 with Coach Michelle McKay (Duluth, Minnesota) who was also their teacher.

6. How about the "flying V play"? I mean, really? I would have taken 25 steps and ran the lead duck in the V and put an end to that play pretty damn quick.

7. I still watched the whole thing and was on the edge of my seat when Charlie Conway went for his own version of the miserable "Triple Deke".

New Years Resolution Help.

Just a heads up: I am getting a good amount of people asking for help in designing workout plans. I think a lot of this comes with the time of year. I would be happy to help you develop a plan for fat loss to help you with your goals. For a 12 week program I charge $179 dollars. Yes, you need to dedicate 12 weeks to notice visible changes in your body. If interested, shoot me an email at tom@sullivantrainingsystems.com.

Happy Friday.

1. When I worked at EMC, Brian Boyson used to send out a mass email that said "Here's to another Van Damme Friday, which featured a clip of JCVD dancing around like a fruit cake. If anyone has access to that please send it over. tom@sullivantrainingsystems.com

2. One of my favorite workouts right now is a squat variation, a chin up variation, and a pushup variation with a rep scheme of 10,9,8, 7...1. 10 squats, 10 chinups, 10 pushups, then 9, 9, 9, 8, 8, 8, and so on with minimal rest. I like front squat, chin up, feet elevated pushup after a good warmup.

3. Jersey Shore. I cannot help but be mesmerized by this show. I want to hate the guys and girls on the show but I am just too entertained. I feel like it is staged, do people really act like that? I want to plan a trip to the Jersey Shore for next summer. Like going to the zoo.

4. I read an article on T-nation today that was one of the simplest/best I have read. It was about must have food and supplement choices. From this, make a shopping list of beef, eggs, broccoli, walnuts, blueberries, chicken, tuna, and greek yogurt. Load up on this stuff, keep the bad stuff out of your house all together. It is impossible to get fat on this stuff. For supplements, I think the average gym goer needs a good protein supplement, a fish oil supplement, and some green tea.

5. My workout music selection has been really weird lately. I guess you can only take so much AC/DC, Rage against the machine, etc. I have been listening to live Pearl Jam, Lynard Skynard, and Bruce Springsteen right now and its been a nice change. Pearl Jam's present tense feel good in particular.

6. Weird one here: One of my go-to business books is the E-Myth by Michael Gerber. There is a section that talks about your primary aim. Here is how he describes it (paraphrased): At your own wake, your friends and family are standing around. From the four corners of the room comes a tape recording of your voice. You are addressing your guests. You are telling them the story of your life. How would you like that story to go? What would you like to be able to say about your life? If you were to write that script, how would you do it? Once you create the script, all you need to do is make it come true.

For me, this is a really strange and thought provoking topic that I struggle with. I guess I just wanted you all to feel as uncomfortable as I do.

Have the best weekend of your life,

Tom

How to be the best at any endeavor.

I just got off the phone with my coaching mentor, Jamie Rice. Coach Rice is the head hockey coach at Babson College whom I played for, for my final two years. This winter I took the assistant coaching position at North Quincy High School for boys varsity hockey. I have high hopes of having a positive impact on these kids. I think when I originally approached this gig, I was going about it all wrong. After speaking with coach, the outlook that he presented is so much smarter that I feel like a DB based on my previous thoughts. I really think this has tremendous carryover to life as well.

One of the points coach brought up really opened my eyes. He said to think about the way I train beginners. You don't take a beginner and have him load up a bunch of plates and go for a deep back squat or a heavy clean. We do things like mastering a set of 25 pushups, 3 x 8 in the pull up, and 3 x 8 perfect technique in the overhead squat. From there we move on to getting very strong in basic movement patterns. That makes perfect sense to me. I wish I had thought about hockey that way. My high school guys need to be VERY good at really basic stuff. Things like handling a puck with speed, playing from the middle of the ice out, passing and receiving pucks, and defending. If we can be the best in the league at these things, who the f#ck cares if we know how to play a left wing lock or a trap. No one in our league will be better at handling pucks, skating, passing, and defending. That will give us a great chance of winning every night. Relating it back to training, I am confident that if my high school players can do a heavy split squat (foot elevated), climb a 25 rope with no leg use, deadlift 1.5 bodyweight, and win foot races, that will put them in a position to be the best player on their team. That's really it. The athletes who can do these tasks are always the strongest, fastest guys or girls on the ice. Let's see if I can swing this analogy to my life.

There are probably 4-5 things that I should focus on that would have the largest impact on my bottom line, my health, my relationships, and my financial health. Right now I will try to figure these out. Stay tuned for my next post as I try to get into more life detail on this. In the meantime if you are reading this with the intention of getting lean or strong or whatever. My advice to you would be to pick 4-5 things and be better than everyone else at them. A quick list might be.

1. Lift weights with high intensity (in other words make it hard on yourself) 4 times per week.
2. Do some type of fast paced cardio or bodyweight circuit 2 times per week.
3. Cut all starch out of your final meal of the day.
4. Limit Booze intake to 2 nights per week.

If you get REALLY friggin good at these 4 things, you might find in 4 weeks that you have really improved your physique, your confidence, your outlook on life.

For a salesperson maybe its:

1. Make 25 calls per day to new prospects.
2. Visit 3 of your best customers daily in person just to say hello and listen to their concerns.
3. Align yourself with one new organization or team or strategic partnership per month.
4. Find a way to get new proposals and quotes out there even earlier than promised.

Not a sales expert, but use your imagination. I bet if you were better than everyone in your field at those 4 things, you would rank in the top 5 in sales.

Just some thoughts. Let me know what you think.

TSull
tom@sullivantrainingsystems.com

Athlete Success: Pistol Pete Cronin

Peter Cronin is a freshman goaltender at BC High over on Morrissey Blvd. Pete spent the entire summer and fall training with us over at STS. When we first got Pistol in the gym, he was just like every other typical beginner: lacking basic levels of strength, conditioning, movement quality, and unsure of his physical boundaries. Fast forward to last week's Massachusetts High School Hockey tryouts:

Hi Tom, it's Peter Cronin just letting you know that I made the BC High Varsity squad. I just wanted to let you know how much your program helped me and pushed me to be my very best. There is a very good chance that this wouldn't have happened without you. I look forward to continuing in the future and spreading the word about your gym.

I also received this email from his Dad:

Hi Tom:I echo Peter's comments. He's clearly stronger and recovers much more quickly than he did just a few months ago. Each of the four consecutive nights of tryouts was 2+ hours and he was stronger at the last tryout than he was at the first. The important thing is that he notices the difference and that appears to help his confidence.

Quite an accomplishment Pete! Congratulations!

Winter 2009 at Sullivan Training Systems

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Below is today's post which is a mind dump on some things I am thinking about. It is one of those posts that I always ask myself after writing, "why am I telling people this?" I think the reason I write posts like this is it helps me lay everything out in front of me, highlights issues, holds me accountable because people know I can be an idiot, and also highlights some issues in owning your own business.

Winter is usually a pretty stressful time of year for me. As a new business owner I have done a piss poor job in managing the business in the best way possible. Basically what has happened in the almost 2 years that I have been in business is as follows:

Summer: absolute gongshow, plenty of athletes, 10-12 hours per week of training with the Mass Satellite Program, lots of general fitness clients, people getting great results, play golf 3 times a week, party two nights a week, do a couple of trips to cape cod and the islands, life is good. Except that the appropriate thing for me to do would be stuff a lot of the cash into the mattress to provide a cushion as business slows down or save for some new equipment, or save money for necessities like rent, food, a new vehicle (mine is just about ready to power down), you know the usual stuff.

Fall: Business slows down but I hang on to a lot of my hockey guys as they get ready for their winter season. I didn't do a good enough job of retaining general fitness clients for fall, but my staff has gone back to school so expenses are less since I am running a one man show. I am paying my bills but can no longer afford to golf or party a couple of nights per week.

Winter: Since I have been running the place by myself, I have been operating as a trainer who happens to own a facility. I need to retool my mindset and try to look at it as a business owner who trains people. For more clarification, when I have staff in the summer, my role is to design all of the workouts, plan the sessions, attract clients, keep clients, answer the phone, and train a couple of groups per day. In the Fall, I do everything including running every session in addition to the other jobs. However, I find that the business development stuff suffers as I focus on developing great training programs and running successful sessions. So now I have spent less time on getting new clients which means all of the hockey guys who have gone back to playing will only be here once per week, which means monthly dues will be a lot less. Now I have to try to scramble for clients, make late payments on bills, let the books go to hell, and have a nervous breakdown. Real chicken with the head cut off type of act.

My saving grace this winter will be some of the teams that have chosen to train with us in season as well as my duties as Assistant Hockey Coach at North Quincy High School.

Spring will pick back up with my hockey players, new fitness clients, and always a couple of other positive surprises.

A case of the Mondays.....

A bunch of random thoughts:

1. With Thanksgiving coming up this week, I plan on taking some time away from training athletes and clients. I think it is important to spend some time with Family and Friends this week and in the coming holidays. Having said that (any Curb fans out there), I do plan on getting into the gym on Thursday morning, Friday morning, and once more over the weekend. These will be brief but intense workouts to combat the caloric intake of the holidays. Usually at about 8pm on Thanksgiving, I take two pieces of Italian bread and begin to build...layer of stuffing, pile of turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, miracle whip, salt and pepper. I literally have to step on it to get it in my mouth, so I figure I need to keep training.

2. For my winter athletes, this is their last week of training before hockey tryouts. These kids are in the best shape of their lives and are looking forward to attacking tryouts. These kids were all beginners when they came in. Most are still relatively skinny kids but their strength levels have shot up as well as their mental toughness reserves and I believe they are ready to go.

3. The past couple of weeks I have had the pleasure of working out with my longtime friend, Chris Cullen, who is in town for Thanksgiving. Chris is an Army Pilot who flies Blackhawk helicopters (how cool is that) and is stationed in Alaska and recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq. On Friday we did a team competition in which we pit civilians (Brian Sull, Joe Fernald, and myself) against US Military (Chris Cullen and Mike Aylward USMC). The workout consisted of 5 chinups, 10 steps lungewalk, med ball side toss x 3 (left and right), and a 100 yard sprint out and a 100 yard sprint back as fast as possible. We competed head to head in each round and am sad to report that the Civi's lost 5-3.

Saturday Sweat being postponed.

Quick Update.

I am postponing all Saturday Sweat workouts until after the holiday. Check back after Thanksgiving to see the updated schedule.


TSull

Heading in to the Holiday Season...

Right now, a lot of fitness professionals and strength coaches are starting to write about the holiday season. It is said that most people will gain somewhere between 3-10 pounds of fat during the holidays with some people gaining even more. I think the reason why a lot of people get fat is this steady progressive weight gain. Most people don't blow up over night but if you think about 8 pounds of fat per year, that means in 5 years you are 40 pounds heavier, which is a whole lot more than you weigh now. Here is how I typically advise people to get through the holiday season.

1. Don't try to diet through the holidays. People will think you are a douchebag if you start talking about no stuffing or mashed potatoes as they shovel it on their plate (pass me my shovel please).

2. Maintain or increase your training intensity. Workout on Thanksgiving morning before the feast, and the day after as well. The best type of workouts to help battle fat gain are fast intense circuits or interval sprints which will elevate your metabolism for hours after.

I think just increasing your training intensity from Thanksgiving - New Years can work wonders for you. You will head into the new year with a solid idea of what it takes to prevent, and even lose fat so if you decide to make a resolution to lose fat, you have a jump start on all of those hogs who will be signing up for gym memberships come Jan 1st. These same people will spend 30 minutes on the elliptical sipping on a gatorade sports drink which will contain more sugar and calories than they will burn during their workout. They will be shocked that they aren't losing weight and will quit by Feb 15. Don't be that person. If you need ideas, just ask.

Best,

TSull
tom@sullivantrainingsystems.com

Building Leg Strength.

Back at it today after a long weekend in Montreal. I spent the weekend playing in a hockey tournament with some close friends at Les 4 Glaces in Montreal, Quebec. We were able to secure the championship trophy along with some serious off ice antics. Back to the business at hand...

Mike Boyle and Single Leg Squats

Mike Boyle just released Functional Strength Coach 3.0, which is a DVD set where Mike gets into detail about all of the latest and greatest in the industry of strength and conditioning. One piece that has created some stir is the section on squatting. In short, Coach Boyle explains how he believes that in order to build your most powerful legs, you should be training them 1 at a time. Just as some practical feedback, my Fall Athletes did some front squatting last week. When they looked at their weight sheets, they were nervous about doing poorly because they hadn't done a two legged squat since October 10th. The worst performance out of the group was a 25 pound increase in their heaviest 3 rep set, with the best performance being a 55 pound increase. That should eliminate any questions of whether or not you can get stronger doing 1 legged work. Most of the leg work that the athletes in my facility had been doing was the rear leg elevated split squat with dumbells and barbells.

If you are interested in building some solid pistons, these should be a staple in your program. I think the girls that read the blog will get some serious benefit from doing these as well. Beware that the first few times you perform these, you will have some soreness in your butt and hammys.

Best,

TSull

tom@sullivantrainingsystems.com

A Day in the Life.

I recently finished a Fat Loss Manual that is just a compilation of some of my thoughts on dieting for optimal physique with an eye on the real world. Most people can't and aren't willing to eat like bodybuilders (travelling with coolers full of chicken and brown rice), so I wrote this with you folks in mind.

Send me an email at tom@sullivantrainingsystems.com if you would like a free copy.

As for the rest of this blog, it is a day in my life, and just a peak into what I do, day in, day out.


Here is typically what a day in the life of world famous, fitness pro Tom Sullivan looks like:



6:00am: Wake up, head to gym. Eat a quick breakfast of greek yogurt with added protein, walnuts and a piece of fruit.

6:30-7:30: First client of the day (Dad). Dad has some creaky knees, lower back pain, a tweaked neck, and occasional shoulder pain. 5 times a week he is in the gym getting a training effect, so I don't want to hear about your injuries. Any good trainer can train around your injuries effectively.

8:00-9:00: Another morning client on Tuesdays and Thursdays (Dayls).

10:00-11:00: Last morning client(s) of the day. Usually a small group of 2-3 men looking to get lean.

11:00am: Another scoop of protein, apple smothered in cinnamon raisin PB (Peanut Butter & Co. delicious). Return emails, phone calls, marketing activities, brainstorming, blogging, reading, researching. PS. My promptness in returning most peoples' calls really blows. In the words of Jason Smith, "It's gotta be better."

12:00pm-2:00pm: From 11:50 - 12:00, I watch an assortment of YouTube vids to get motivated to train for the day. If I am excited to train on that day, I will watch olympic weightlifting technique videos or people front squatting Toyotas to get in the zone. If I am being a little, whiny bitch (waahh, I don't like to train by myself) I will watch something more motivational. Then I foam roll, warmup and get into my workout. My favorite workout right now is Front Squat, Bent Row, DB Military Press for a rep scheme of 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.

2:30-3:00: Catch breath, shower, eat. Prepare for athletes.

3:00-8:00pm: During this time I see an average of 8-10 high school hockey players, 4-5 general fitness clients, and sometimes a 12-13 year old hockey team. These 5 hours are my reminder of why I do what I do. I love my morning clients and the time we spend together, but my true passion is teaching kids. To take a 130 pound kid who looks like a baby deer on ice, and in 5 weeks watch him hang clean his bodyweight (which is now 140-145 pounds) for 3 reps with excellent technique, and wash that down with a circuit of sprints, squats and 25 foot rope climb for 7 rounds, is unreal. To see a kid get to the ceiling climbing the rope for the first time and jump down with a huge smile and ripping my arm off with a high 5, makes me feel like the luckiest guy on earth. It has a tendency to give me some perspective the next time I get in my car with the hood bungy'd down that barely starts and is like chick repellent. It also puts me at ease when I ignore calls from my student loan lender and wake up in a cold sweat because I can't pay some of my bills on time this month.

8:30p: Home. Dinner (which lately has been a slow cooked stew, chili, or pile of other warm dead animals.) Little TV in my fat guy pants, comatose. Rinse and repeat everyday.

Fall Training Methods at Sull's Gym.

I thought I would take an opportunity to share some insight to what I have been up to in training my athletes, clients, and myself lately. It helps me as a coach to take a step back and evaluate what's working, and what isn't.

Athletes

This fall I had the good fortune to be able to continue working with some of my athletes who have been with me since the beginning of summer. These kids have worked hard since June and the results really are amazing. Most of these guys are skinny kids who were slow, awkward, and weak. Some of these kids are now Hang Cleaning bodyweight for reps of 3 with solid technique, knocking out sets of 30 push ups, and 10+ pull ups. Their speed drills look really crisp and their conditioning levels are solid. Another point to mention is how "tough" these kids have gotten. Through training with heavy weights, challenging circuits, and competitions these kids have built a resevoir of mental toughness that will be exciting to see how they use them in the upcoming season.

So what has been working for these kids:

In the summer, when you have 120 minute sessions four times per week, no homework, and no organized sports, you have lots of freedom in what you want to do with athletes. In the Fall, we now have 80 minute sessions three times per week so it has become crucial that we have no wasted time. For our warmup we do 4-6 movement drills that include various skips, walks, and dynamic stretches followed by pull-ups (3x as many but not to failure), push ups, and either overhead squat practice or 3 sets of light olympic lift technique work. This type of warmup allows for repeition and practice and also to prepare the athlete to have primed his system for the lifts to come later in the workout. I think this type of warmup has been huge. We will do some jumping, some speed, Abs, and lift (not rocket science, just great technique with challenging weights). One day per week, we do the same set up but the lift changes to a circuit. Each circuit is designed to push the athletes limits of focus, technique, strength, and conditioning. A typical circuit might be to push the sled for 25 yards, climb a 20 foot rope, perform 6 goblet squats, and sprint 200 meters. Rest for 30-60 seconds and repeat somewhere between 4-7 times. It's amazing at how taxing these are. I will perform the circuit earlier in the day with my training partners and will lie on the turf for 10 minutes with my chest pounding and these kids will fly through a circuit and walk out the front door as if nothing happened.

Clients

Most of my regular clients come to train 2-3 times per week. I think for them, it is the hardest part of their day. Getting to the gym can be a victory in itself for people who work traditional jobs, so it is up to me to provide them with an exceptional experience to make their trip to the gym as productive and enjoyable as possible. I follow a similar format for their sessions as I do with my athletes. We always foam roll and work on soft tissue, go through a dynamic warmup, followed by adding in either a few sets of basic strength or movement patterns. Once per week we will do a ladder to get them moving their feet quickly (plus they enjoy this) and then it is on to abs. All of the ab drills I do with this population are some sort of a plank, anti-rotation, or anti extension exercise. Then we have a quick rest and water break (during this time I lay out whatever gear will be needed for their workout) and then it is on to the meat of the session. All of my sessions with these folks are a circuit combo of strength exercises, power exercises, mobility drills (active rest), and a conditioning exercise. A sample from last week would be: 100 pound sled drag for 25 yards, 4 T-Pushups, 3 Med Ball Slams, 5 Plate Raise Squats, Side lying Windmill, Med Ball Scoop Toss, and a hip mobility drill. We perform one round, rest for one minute and repeat for a total of 5-8 rounds depending on fitness level of each client.

Teams

I currently have two Select Hockey Teams (12-13 year olds and 13-14 year olds), and one midget youth program that I work with. For these teams, I only see them once per week for 60-75 minutes. With these teams on such a limited time basis, it is crucial that they get a productive session. The format remains the same for the teams as my high school kids for the most part. We do a dynamic warmup, a jumping/landing drill, a speed drill (tennis ball drops are their favorite), some stability abs for a couple minutes, then onto some other work. We will spread them out on the turf and have them go through a circuit of basic bodyweight strength stuff in their own little area where I fly around correcting technique. If they are focused and do everything I ask, we finish with some relay races and other fun stuff.

Myself/Training Partners

For the past 3 weeks, I have trained 6 times per week. Why 6 times? 3 times per week I perform the high school athlete workout. How can I effectively coach and expect things of the kids who come through the door if I can't perform and recover from the same workouts? The other three days per week I do some type of a metabolic circuit because as the months get colder I find myself eating shittier food and drinking more beer than I typically would, so I try to offset that in the gym. Is this sound logic? Not really, I could make better progress doing a better job in the kitchen and cutting back on the moonshine, and not having to train as hard. I guess it comes down to priorities and being in single digit bodyfat just isn't a high priority for me. A tyical training week for me will look like this: every session starts with a foam roll/soft tissue session followed by a dynamic warmup followed by some plyos and speed (which I do three days per week), followed by 8-10 minutes of abs and stretching. Monday is close grip snatch for 6 sets, rear leg elevated split squats for 5 sets and a variation of weighted pullups for 5 sets. Then conditioning for 12 minutes of sprints or slide boards. The rest of the lifts look like this with an explosive/olympic lift followed by two big compound lifts done with heavy weight.

Friday September 24th. Free Form Friday #1

(Pic has nothing to do with post, just funny.)

If any of you out in the blogosphere listen to Dennis and Callahan on WEEI in the morning, you will recognize that I completely stole the Free Form Friday thing from them. Basically it means that any topic is fair game. So here goes (language may get ugly here as this is off the cuff, so don't read if you get offended easily)

1. I don't want to hear another former collegiate athlete ask for workout advice only to follow this up with, "I don't need to be doing squats or fast lifts anymore, I just want to tighten up a little and get back down to playing weight." Listen stupid, did you ever think the reason why you were a piece of twisted steel in college may have been due to the intensity with which you trained?

2. In the same vein, I can help you with diet advice, but when it boils down to it, you know what you should and shouldn't eat. Can you have abs if you eat takeout 3-4 times per week. No, you can't.

3. If it were easy, everybody would be doing it. This relates to life, training, and diet/physique goals. "Jeez, Sull, the program you put together for me sure looks tough." Oh, I'm sorry, I was under the impression you wanted to get stronger, leaner, faster, and lose your sweetbreads. If you want cookie cutter, shitty, easy to do programs, go to the latest Men's Health and perform this month's "Pump up your guns workout".

4. If you are performing "arm workouts" or "arm day" and aren't a competitive bodybuilder, jerk the wheel into the next sand filled yellow barrel that you see on highway off ramps. You need to burn calories. No one likes a fat guy with big arms because people who don't workout will just see you as a fat guy.

5. Girls, the jogging and lettuce diet needs to end. You will have way more fun lifting weights and doing circuits/eating real food than pounding your joints into oblivion. Add a daily 5 miles and high heels to your regimen and talk to me when you are forty, you will be wrecked.

6. Everyday, eat 3 or 4 eggs for breakfast plus a little thing of yogurt and watch your energy levels improve and your waist tighten up. Your current regime of Iced Coffee for breakfast, salad for lunch, and 9 pizzas for dinner isn't working. Try to eat most of your calories by 5pm.

7. They are doing fire alarm tests at my gym today, even though the nice man told me they would be going off in 10 minutes (exactly 10 minutes ago) I am now looking for Ray Finkle and a clean pair of shorts.

Have a great weekend.

"When Things Go Wrong, Simplify"

Sometimes when I write a blog, I steal information from other trainers, strength coaches, and nutrition experts (not Doctors or Nutritionists because most of them don't know shit). Is it plagiarism? I don't know. I try to give credit to whoever I took it from, but didn't pay attention to 10th grade English class when they told us how to do a bibliography. This tidbit was stolen from Dan John, author of Never Let Go. Why wouldn't I steal from someone who was been into strength and conditioning for 40 years? I know that the people following this blog would never get this information otherwise, so I look at it as my responsibility to bring it to you.

"When things go wrong, simplify."

In Coach John's book he talks about throwing the discus, and having to really get back to basics when his technique went to hell for short periods of time. He also talked about how this applies to most areas in your life. Let me explain:

Suppose you find yourself a little bit fatter after Labor Day and you realize that you took the last few weeks (months) and ate like hell and skipped more than your fair share of workouts. Upon analysis, you decide you need to do spinning classes before work, eat bird seed all day, do two hours of weights after work, take fat burning pills, and only eat boiled cabbage. More often than not, the answer lies in simplifying things. Just get back to basics with four well designed workouts per week, and get back in the saddle with a diet strategy that works for you. Give it a couple of weeks and you will be back down to fighting weight.

The last point I want to make is that simple isn't always easy. Simple is simple, but simple isn't easy. If I tell you to simplify your workouts and do two exercises and those exercises are front squats and pull ups, that's simple, but try it for two weeks and let me know if it is easy.

Farmer's Markets

I feel like I have been getting robbed after my experience this week at a local farm stand. I have driven by this place about 200 times in my life and never stopped in even though I understand the health and physique benefits of eating locally grown produce. The place is Christopher's Farm Stand in Weymouth, and here is what I purchased:

2 dozen locally laid eggs

1 whole watermelon

1 whole pineapple

2 red bell peppers

2 green bell peppers

3 fresh jalapeno peppers

1 habanero pepper

2 bags of Spinach

1 pound of strawberries

1 large onion

5 cloves of garlic

5 apples of different variety

2 nectarines

Grand total: $28.59

Are you shitting me? I feel like a complete DBag for not discovering this sooner. The next time you are driving or walking past a farmers market stop and load up. Then lug your baskets full of produce home and up a few flights of stairs for a little extra conditioning.

The Saturday Sweat

A few months back we launched a program called the Saturday Sweat. This workout was designed to allow people who don't normally train with us during the week to come by on a Saturday morning and get a great workout in with a group of like minded individuals. People have really been enjoying this as a change of pace from their typical training. In case you didn't know:

Saturday Mornings
Walk-in sessions at 9am and 11am
60 minute session
$15 cost

65 Mathewson Drive, Unit B
Weymouth, Ma 02189

I have heard from others that there is a certain level of intimidation involved with folks who would like to come and workout but are scared. I want to let you know that this isn't bootcamp style training. No one will scream at you, embarrass you or act like an idiot. The group is very supportive, and everyone bonds through the task at hand. The workouts also can be scaled for different fitness levels and ages.

The Saturday Sweat is a Wide Open Invitation for anyone who reads the blog. We would love to have everyone come by and train with us. If you plan on coming by, shoot me a quick email at tom@sullivantrainingsystems.com or drop a comment here.

During the session we may push sleds, do bodyweight circuits, lots of different ab training that I guarantee you aren't doing right now, and a bunch of other stuff crammed into 60 minutes.


Look forward to seeing you this weekend,

Tom

Gearing up for Fall.

As I mentioned yesterday, the Fall may be the best time of the year to get dialed in on your training and physique goals. With the cooler weather in the Fall you get a number of benefits that directly relate to your health and fitness levels:

No more sweating yourself to sleep. Great sleeping weather with the windows open. Sleep is hands down the best thing you can do for your health and fitness. 8 hours is a must, non-negotiable.

Less Tuesday nights spent at the Atlantic Beer Garden roof deck having 8 drinks and 2 appetizers. The motivation won't be there if it is 50 degrees.

Great workout weather. With temps in the 60s, you will find yourself able to workout harder and longer, free from the oppressive heat.

These three things should be used as that spark to get you going again.

Assess Your Training Plan

With the new Fall season upon us, it is also time to take a look at your training. I would be willing to bet the house on the fact that you spent all summer doing the same training, week in, week out. Did your summer weekdays look like this at all?

Take the bus to work downtown.

Work from 7:30am - 6pm.

Hustle to the gym for either a spin class, a total body pump class, or just go out and pound pavement for 30 minutes.

Home.

Wake and repeat.

Maybe you got decent results. Maybe not. I know that getting your workout in is as much mental as physical. You just feel better about yourself if you get that work done. Now is the time to switch up your program. You really need to make some changes to see some changes. Chances are your body is used to Yogging for 30 minutes at a moderate pace. It probably isn't even that hard for you anymore. What to do?

Lift weights and sprint.

Do bodyweight circuits and complexes.

Swim.

Try a new class.

Think about what you have been doing and start making a few changes. I can help you with program design. I have been putting together some 12 week programs for people who have been getting great results.

Get after it,

TSull

tsullivanjr@gmail.com

Tuesday September 8th, 2009. End of Summer

The end of summer is now upon us. I hope you took July and August (June was a wash, literally) and really got after it with friends and family. To bring things relevant to my side of things...how was your physique? When you see pictures of yourself posted up on Facebook from the 4th of July, Labor Day, Cook outs, parties, etc...do you cringe? Or are you excited because you know you put in some serious work? Now is the time to take some stock in what went well and what didn't. In the period leading up to summer (February-May) did you get to the gym 4 times per week? Did you cut starchy carbs out of your diet during the week? Did you eat a large, nutritious breakfast everyday? Did you drink a gallon of water everyday? If you did these things and weren't satisfied with the results, you probably weren't training hard enough or smart enough. If you did these things there is a good chance you were more than happy with the way your body looked, felt, and performed.

I really believe that the Fall is a great time to dial it in for the first time or dial it back in after an end of summer binge (in my case). With kids going back to school and the weather cooling down, to me it is everything you need to start building a foundation of solid fitness, on which to build a peak level of fitness for different times of the year that you choose (almost like a bodybuilder getting ready for a show). If you stay at 80 percent of your best condition year round, it is easy to get beach ready or vacation ready. Getting your body in top condition isn't like studying for a final exam (cramming). You can't just starve yourself for 2 weeks and do endless cardio to get ready. Now is the time to begin building the foundation.

Here is a snack to use between meals to help keep your diet on track.

Chobani Greek Yogurt (buy at any supermarket. 15 grams of protein plus all kinds of good stuff).
-I sort of stole this idea from Tony Gentilcore, a Boston based trainer.

Add a 1/2 scoop of vanilla protein and a few walnuts and you have a snack designed to support your goals of looking good sans clothes.

Fall is also a time to revamp your training program if you have been doing the same thing over and over again. My work hours dwindle a little bit in the fall, so if you need help developing a program, I would be happy to help out.


Best,

TSull
tssullivanjr@gmail.com

Fall 2009

I wanted to take a minute to give everyone a heads up on some of the offerings at Sullivan Training Systems this Fall.

Athlete Strength and Conditioning

Starting on September 7th, 2009 we will continue to offer our services as the South Shore's best place to get bigger, stronger, and faster.

The Fall session will run from September 7th, 2009 - October 29th, 2009.

Session times will continue to roll out every hour from 3 - 8pm. Meaning there is a class at 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8pm.

Training Days are Mon, Tues, Thursday, every week.

Cost is $249 per month.

Total Body Conditioning

TBC will be the name of what we will be offering to our regular clients. The primary goal of this program is rapid, sustainable fat loss, coupled with total body strength, and overall health.

This program will also feature rolling starts at 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8pm.

Training Days will be Monday - Thursday (choice of 2 or 3 days)

Cost for 2 Day: $179 per month

Cost for 3 Day: $249 per month


Semi Private and Private Training

Email for details.



Best,

T Sull
tom@sullivantrainingsystems.com

Things that you never do....but should.

1. Take the month of August off from all variations on chest training. Most guys I know will spend about 20 minutes on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday (or all 3) to blast their chest with flat bench, incline bench, flys, cable crossovers, pec dec, etc.

Instead, take that 20 minutes to focus on pull ups, and sprint cardio training. Your shoulders will feel way better, you will have a bigger back, and you will shed some bodyfat from your sprint training. A good way to get some sprint training in is to set a watch for 6 minutes and do a 50 yard build up sprint, rest for 5-10 seconds, and see how many reps you can get in for 6 minutes. Too easy? do 8 minutes or 10 minutes and make sure you are building up to 80 percent of full speed, it isn't a jog.

2. Start every workout with 5 sets of 5 in the front squat with a decent weight. It will warm your whole body up, improve your squat technique and tighten those legs up. It will also burn more calories than most of the other useless shit you plan to do for the rest of your workout. Most people never squat. Many of the former athletes I know who read the blog say things like, "I don't need to be squatting or training legs anymore." Last I checked you walk on your legs, not your arms.

3. Stability Abs: Replace your situps, crunches, leg raises, weighted situps, etc. with planks, side planks, and back bridges. Try doing some stability abs 4 times per week for a month and watch your midsection tighten up and your back pain start to fade away.


That's all for now. Start adding this stuff in today and I will be back with some more stuff you can try.

Monday Morning post after a long layoff.

I haven't written a blog post in a long time. After getting chirped by a number of friends following the blog, I have decided to make an effort to get in at least on per week. The summer is the busiest time at STS Weymouth, and with 40 athletes, a dozen or so combat conditioning members, and Mass Satellite Hockey coaching, I have lost track of the blog. So here we go...

If Something is Important, Do it everyday

I stole this gem from Strength Coach Dan John, author of Never Let Go. Not only is this great advice for your training, but it can be applied to every area of your life.

You can't do a single pullup? Start doing 3 sets of whatever you can at the start of every workout. Do 3 sets of 8 jumping pullups, or assisted pullups. In 3 weeks you will be able to muster a couple of reps.

You need to lose 25 pounds of belly fat. Remove the starch from your diet every day. Watch the pounds fly off.

You have $2.67 in your saving account? Have 10% of your paycheck auto debited into your savings. I should follow this one myself. I often find myself without a pot to piss in.

With my summer athletes, I find that beginners who are 13-16 years old, have never trained before, and are built like Olive Oil from Popeye, can't perform any pullups, their pushups suck, and their squat technique is horrific. We have implemented pull ups everyday, pushups everyday, and 3x8 overhead broomstick squat at the start of every workout. The progress has been amazing.

For the everyday fitness enthusiast looking to slash bodyfat, let's apply this. What type of exercise is most effective for fat loss? I would argue that interval style cardio sessions and high intensity circuit training are.

Every day this week go to the gym and perform the following:

5 Overhead broomstick or hockey stick squats
5 pushups
3 pullups

repeat 10 rounds with as little rest as possible. rest 3 minutes and then go outside and sprint 100 yards, and light jog back to starting position. repeat 5 times.

Seriously, do this everyday this week. It might take 25 minutes total. You might lose 6 pounds this week...

3 Week's Out.

Today is June 10th. July 4th is right around the corner. Are you on track with your physique goals? Here are some things I am currently having success with in my own quest for a solid physique.

1. Diet. 5 days per week I eat the exact same thing. Smoothie for breakfast loaded with frozen fruit, protein powder, peanut butter, and ice. A couple of hours later I mix myself a protein shake. Then I train, and eat a salad with grilled chicken or steak. A couple hours later I have another shake, followed by a late dinner of either chicken or steak on a wrap or in a salad. Boring? Yes. Effective? Yes.

2. Training. 6 days per week I do some type of a difficult training session whether it be lifting heavy weights, doing a fast paced metabolic circuit, or a combination of both. Is it difficult at times? Yes, but if it were easy, everyone would do it and our country wouldn't be a bunch of whales.

3. Short rest periods. When I train, I hardly rest at all and it is working. If you are doing a set and then sitting down, grabbing water, or checking your blackberry, you are robbing yourselves of an effective workout.

4. 200-400 Meter "sprints". I have added in some middle distance sprints into my circuits and they are working wonders. You can almost feel the fat falling off.

5. Removing 90 percent of starch during the week. Get rid of your bread, pasta, potato, and rice if you haven't done so already.

6. Drink a gallon of water everyday.

7. Mike Aylward's bootcamp classes at night. If I am busy and can't get a workout in during the day, I hop in one of Mike's classes at night, and they are real ass kickers. Get yourself signed up as soon as possible.


Best,

TSull
tom@sullivantrainingsystems.com

Independence Day July 4, 2009

I hope everyone had a great memorial day weekend. Now that the unofficial start to summer has come and gone, it is time to take a step back and analyze some of the goals you had set for Memorial Day/Figawi Weekend. How did you do? Did you carve the physique you were after or did you sport the same love handles and sweet breads that you have been lugging around for what seems like decades? In analyzing how your goals were met or missed, you can take two directions.

1. You can continue to tweak your diet and training to reach new heights with your physique.

2. You can be a coward and make all kinds of excuses about cookouts, birthday parties, crazy work schedules, or whichever other horseshit you feel like trotting out to explain your dumpy body. When it comes down to it, no one really cares, you are still fat.

So regardless if you hit your goals, or missed your goals, I urge you to take another date (Independence Day, July 4th) to set some new goals and make some new plans to achieve them.

Sign up for Mike's BootCamp, come to Saturday Sweats, have me put together a program for you, do whatever it takes, but don't continue to be a fat slug on America's Birthday. You have a little more than 5 weeks. I will continue to help you with tips, workouts, etc.

Figawi Weekend, Saturday Sweat.

Memorial Day weekend has descended upon us. It is time to see if you have spent the last 3 months exercising and dialing in the nutrition or if you have been following the same shitty diet and training plan. While I am stuck in Weymouth, Ma, and most of you guys are out on Nantucket, I hope that when you start to peel those layers off people take notice of your hard work.

Saturday Sweat is on for tomorrow for everyone on the main land. Two open sessions at 9am and 11am. Everyone is welcome to join us. If you are away for Memorial Day Weekend, the only Saturday Sweat I want you to get is on the dance floor at the chicken box at 11pm.

Have a great weekend,

TSull
tom@sullivantrainingsystems.com
www.sullivantrainingsystems.com

STS Website Launch.

I am excited to announce the launch of the official Sullivan Training Systems Website. If anyone following the blog needs some website work done, I have some great people who built the new site, so let me know. Also, I would love to hear your feedback on the new site whether it be good, bad, or indifferent. Here it is:

www.sullivantrainingsystems.com

Saturday Sweat Tomorrow and Training Intensity

Just a reminder that tomorrow marks the third Saturday Sweat. We are picking up some good momentum with a lot of new faces. Hopefully you can join us at either 9am or 11am on Saturday morning.

Training Intensity

Lately I have been putting a lot of thought into training intensity. Let's start by defining intensity. In broad, general terms, I would define training intensity as the level of perceived difficulty as it relates to an exercise, a workout, or even a series of workouts. Let's face it, if you drag yourself to the gym after work a few times per week, you are better than 90% of America's population. But are you really training hard enough to alter your body?

You can get intensity from heavier weights, longer sets, faster movements, longer workouts, and more challenging exercises and movements. However you decide, try to get some more intensity into your training. We will be getting intense Saturday Morning. Will you?

This Week at STS....May 11, 2009

Happy Monday everyone. Here is what's happening at STS Weymouth this week.

Monday:
Regular training sessions and Spring Athletes

Tuesday:
Regular training, Spring Athletes
Mike Aylward's FREE Group Session at 7:00PM
==> This is a continuation of May's free sessions from Mike. These have been a huge success and we invite everyone to come check it out!

Wednesday:
Regular training

Thursday:
Regular training

Thursday:
Regular Training
Mike Aylward's FREE Group Session at 7:00PM
==> This is a continuation of May's free sessions from Mike. These have been a huge success and we invite everyone to come check it out!

Friday:
Regular Training and Athletes

Saturday:
Saturday Sweat Session at 9 and 11am. 15 clams per person.

Saturday Sweat Update....Mike's Session Footage

Tomorrow marks the second "Saturday Sweat" that we have held at STS in Weymouth. Tomorrow's sweat will feature two sessions. Early session for mature folks who go to bed early, later session for the rest of us who like to spend Friday Nights carrying on. If you weren't with us last week, I invite you to come down, get a quick workout and kick your weekend off on the right foot. Details below.

When: Tomorrow, Saturday May 9, 2009. First session is 9:00am-10:00am. Second Session will be 11:00am-12:00pm.

Where: 65 Mathewson Drive Unit B, Weymouth, Ma 02189

What: Group training session that will feature different stations suitable for men and women of all ages and fitness levels.

Cost: $15 per person.

I hope you can make it to one of the sessions. Gimme a shout if you plan on coming down. tssullivanjr@gmail.com.

Below you will see some footage of Mike Aylward's Group Workouts. For the month of May, every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:00pm, Mike is holding FREE one hour group sessions to get a taste of what his Summer Program will look like.

FREE Session at STS Weymouth tonight at 7pm!

Friends,

Tonight is another FREE training session at 7:00pm in Weymouth. Mike Aylward will be taking you through a workout that he developed. With that being said, I would like to address an issue that keeps coming up as I speak to people about Mike's sessions.

I have done a miserable job at communicating the value of having Mike available to run these sessions and what is actually being offered. A lot of people are nervous that these sessions will be too difficult and are intimidated to show up. Mike and I have taken the time to make different "levels" out of each workout. So for example, say there are pull ups as part of a workout. I train people everyday that can't do pull ups, but can do a handful of band assisted pulls or jumping pull ups. There is a substitute for everything, and we can easily take the most difficult workouts and make them applicable to everyone.

Bottom Line: Don't be nervous, there will be people of all ages, shapes, and sizes taking part in Mike's workouts. We look forward to seeing you tonight.

Gym Location:

Sullivan Training Systems
65 Mathewson Drive Unit B
Weymouth, Ma 02189

My Cell: 781 831 3901

Cardio and Ab Training

I have been getting a lot of questions lately from various clients and online clients about cardio and ab training. Before I get into these topics, I think it is important to get down to the root cause of these questions. Why do most people inquire about cardio and abs? I would be willing to bet you a month's salary it isn't because they are interested in strengthening their cardiovascular systems or even strengthening their abs and torso for improved performance or lower back health. I would guess that 100% of these questions relate to a person being dissatisfied with the way they look around the midsection. With this assumption in mind, I have to go back and harp on the number one problem associated with the way someone's midsection looks, their diet.

When asked what the best exercise for ab development, world famous strength coach Mike Boyle usually replies with "table pushaways". Having good abs is 100 percent about getting your diet dialed in. If you are not willing to get things figured out in the kitchen, you will never have respectable abs. Someone once said, "you can't out-train a shitty diet," and I have to agree with that.

On the rare occasion that you are completely dialed in on diet and have been so for 4-6 weeks (don't lie), here are some "cardio" considerations.

Cardio:

If you are training strictly for looks and not performance I think you can do cardio in addition to your weight training up to 4 times per week. 2 times should be sprint/interval style work and 2 times can be lower intensity 25 minute sessions on the bike or on the pavement.

Abs:

Get rid of situps, crunches, and anything that looks similar to these. Your ab training should be almost exclusively plank variations, anti-rotation drills, and anti-extension drills. I will put together a brief video for you later today detailing some of the movements I use.


Have a great day,

Tom
tssullivanjr@gmail.com

FREE Open Gym with LCpl Mike Aylward Tonight 7pm

To everyone following the blog, I wanted to let you know that STS's newest instructor, Mike Aylward, is holding an open gym tonight at the facility (65 Mathewson Drive, Weymouth, Ma, Unit B). Tonight's session will be one hour of free group training that will be a taste of the program he has developed for the summer. Should be a lot of fun so come on by. All are welcome.

Details:

When: 7pm tonight (May 5)

Where: STS, 65 Mathewson Drive, Unit B, Weymouth, Ma 02189

Bring training appropriate clothing, some H2O and a positive attitude.

First Saturday Sweat Fest Footage

This past Saturday was the first "Saturday Morning Sweat Fest" at STS Weymouth. We got off to a little bit of a late start but overall it was a huge success. We had guys really pushing themselves to the brink of exhaustion and I think at the end of the day everyone had a great time and felt much better about themselves. I think this could be a huge new offering for the gym as I have spoken to a lot of guys and girls who are interested in getting involved. If you are reading the blog, I strongly encourage you to join us on a Saturday morning. Here is what went down.

Open Gym Tomorrow Morning! All Are Welcome.

I know its short notice but the feedback has been strong to quite strong about the Saturday Morning Sweat Fest at STS Weymouth. We have a group of people already signed up for the morning session but I wanted to open the invitation to any man, woman, child, or gremlin that wants to come by and get a workout in tomorrow. Here are the details:

Who: Everyone is welcome. Men and Women.

What: Group Workout. Very Laid back atmosphere. $15 per person

Where: 65 Mathewson Drive Unit B, Weymouth, Ma 02189

When: 11:00am Saturday May 2, 2009 (tomorrow)

Why: Because you are a little soft around the midsection and looking to get the weekend off on the right foot.

If you wouldn't mind shooting me an email at tssullivanjr@gmail.com if you plan on coming, I would appreciate it. If not, just show up at 10:55 ready to get after it. I look forward to seeing you all in the morning.


Happy Friday,

TSull

Huge Tilt Tonight.

Big night tonight. The Stanley Cup finals for the New England Senior Hockey League are upon us. Whats that? What the hell is the New England Senior Hockey League, you say? Well its only the most competitive sporting league in the Northeast, so shame on you. Exercise RX is set to take the ice tonight at 10:30pm at the Canton Sportsplex in front of a capacity crowd. I would tell you who we are playing, but I am not sure and frankly it doesn't matter. In honor of the Exercise RX guys I thought I would put together a couple of workouts modeled after two of our players.

Joe Santilli Bike Sprint workout

The only thing 'Tilli seems to be interested is bike sprint workouts, so here you go buddy.

15 second sprint, 20 second recovery x 5

30 second sprint, 40 second recovery x 5

20 second sprint, 10 second recovery x 8

Directions: Depending on the type of stationary bike you are on, you will want to use a nice, easy level for your recovery, and bump it to a more aggressive level for the sprint. The longer the sprint the easier the level, on the short sprints get aggressive on a high level. These are harder than they sound.

Ned Havern's Beach Body Pump

Former BC stud, Ned Havern, likes to get into the weight room and just keep carving that rock. He isn't very interested in how high he can jump or what he can bench, he is all show. Here you go Neddy.

Dumbell Incline Bench x 5 reps heavy

Dumbell Row x 5 reps heavy

Stationary reverse lunge x 5ea leg (hold dumbells)

Russian Twists x 5ea

Oblique bridge x 5ea

Try to rip through this for 8 rounds with minimal rest (YouTube exercises). Quality is better than quantity, meaning if you are crushed after 6 circuits, shut her down.

Tuesday April 28, 2009...Today's Workout

Today it is going to be 90 degrees outside. If you have the mental fortitude to get your ass in the gym today, you aren't going to want to be there long. You probably want to spend some time walking around the city, having a cocktail out on the patio at your favorite watering hole, or just relaxing out on the balcony of your apartment.

So here you go....

Dumbell Curl and Press Combo x 5 reps
Bodyweight Squat x 5 reps
T-Pushups x 2ea side (pushup and reach for ceiling at top of rep, rotating your body)
30 second treadmill sprint.

rest for 1:00. repeat 8-12 times depending on time available and fitness level.

PS. Bring a set of dumbells over to the treadmill and make that your own little area. If you want to work out outdoors, get rid of the curl and press and perform the rest of the exercises at a local field with your shirt off. This workout is effective for both men and women.

Go get it,

TSull

tssullivanjr@gmail.com

Putting the feelers out there.

I wanted to get a temperature check on everyone who reads the blog. In the interest of full disclosure, I need to generate more revenue at the gym. Plain and simple. S0 in order for me to generate more revenue, I need to help more people get lean and mean. Currently my main source of income is training high school athletes and a select group of clients who train like athletes and look like athletes but are everyday folks like you and me. Here are some ideas that I am toying with:

1. Saturday morning "sweat the booze out of your system" workouts (just a working title)

With the gorgeous weather finally upon us, and all of the open space at the new gym, I feel like we should all get together as friends first thing on Saturday morning and get a serious sweat on to battle the effects of anything you did Friday night and plan on doing for the rest of the weekend. For anyone that is dedicated enough to get themselves to the gym on Saturday mornings after a night out, you can vouch for how much better you feel after. So I figure let's get 20 of us at the gym, really get after it for one hour, then meet at a beach, throw the pig skin around, and cook some dead animals. I am thinking that these workouts will be $15 per session. Thoughts?

2. Mike Aylward's Combat Conditioning.

This one is not an idea. This one actually has an official Start date of June 1st. Mike has already put together all of the workouts for this. This will be a 3 time per week "bootcamp" style workout program. It will be intense, you will shed pounds, and Mike will motivate you to levels of fitness you never thought possible. The cost for this will be $179 per month. If you sign up by May 10th, you will lock in a price of $129 per month for the summer.

3. Sullivan Training Systems' Summer Fat Loss Guide.

This is something that I am working on and is really time consuming, but if there is enough interest, I will be prepared to offer this for June 1st-August 31st. This will be a manual that will take all of the guess work out of planning your workouts and dealing with your nutrition strategy. If you can't make it down to train with us, at least you can follow our strategy at your local Planet Fitness. Also, for those who follow my writing you know that I am a realist. You will find me drinking beer on weekends and eating cheeseburgers at cookouts. You will also notice that I am not bashful about playing hoop on the "skins" team. I will let you in on the secrets of having fun and having a lean physique. For 3 months of workouts and diet information for the summer, the cost will be $199.

I am genuinely looking for ideas, suggestions, and also telling me to pound sand if you feel that way. Please don't be bashful in the comment section. Email me or message me on Facebook (friend me if we aren't already). Thank you!

Best,

Tom

tssullivanjr@gmail.com

Mike

aylward.michael@gmail.com

Warm Weather Training Tips.

As I stare out the window of the gym right now, the sun is shining brightly and we just came off a weekend in the 80s. Feels great, doesn't it? I always love this time of year because it means you can start adding some serious outdoor activity into your lives, work on your tans, and just feel much better in general. There is a downside to all of this nice weather in my opinion as a fitness guy. As soon as you have temps creeping skyward into the 80s, every Tom, Dick, and Jane dust of their running shoes and begin pounding out miles after spending the previous few months hibernating. When you take a body that is not conditioned properly to the stresses of running and jump right into the "fire" you are creating a recipe for injury. No, you aren't going to blow your knee out jogging (or is it yogging with a soft J), but I promise if you start upping miles early on you will start getting achy in your achilles, knees and your hips. So if you must run, add miles slowly.

If you hate running, try this one on for size.

Playground workout

Park bench jumps (jump up, step down) x 3

Pullups x 3-5 reps

Sprint 40 yards and back

Do 10 sets, resting when you need to. If any 9 year olds get in your way, leave cleat marks up their chest.

Fat Loss Plateau Buster

Here is a quick idea that I came up with today. If you haven't realized this already, weight gain/loss is strictly a game of calories in versus calories out. Meaning take more in than you burn, hello weight gain. Burn more than you take in, hello Murph Abs. So if you are currently in a sticking point where you aren't making progress on your fat loss goals, we either need you to take in less calories, burn more, or a combo of both. This post is about burning more calories. When you get out of bed do this for 5 straight days to get some extra calorie burn:

10 Jumping Jacks
5 pushups
6 steps of lunge walks

repeat 5 rounds, get in shower, head to work having already stoked up your body to burn calories. This will help you break through your current plateau.

Updates and a couple workouts...

I realize I have been MIA on the blogging front as of late and I apologize. Opening the facility in Weymouth brought on a bunch of issues/details I hadn't originally planned for. Now the facility has been opened for 3 weeks, we are busier than ever, and are doing things that just weren't possible in the old Braintree facility.


I want to take a quick opportunity to tell you about a program we are launching for Summer 09 that will begin Monday, June 8th. The program is called Combat Conditioning and it will be run by Lance Corporal Michael Aylward. Mike is a member of the United States Marine Corps fresh off of a tour of duty in Iraq. While on deployment, Mike created a group training program that was used on his fellow Marines and borrows from concepts from their bootcamp. I had the opportunity to review the program with Mike yesterday and it looks awesome. If you are looking for a fast paced, competitive training atmosphere, definitely get in touch with me or Mike ASAP.


We are also getting geared up for our High School/Collegiate Summer Strength Program that will begin on June 8th and run through the end of the summer. We have added staff, space, and equipment this summer and so far the response has been overwhelming. If you are a high school or college athlete looking to make serious gains to take to the playing field, you need to train with us this summer.


Lastly, the STS website is currently under development and nearing completion so I am looking forward to that. I will keep you posted so I can get your feedback.


It wouldn't be a blog post from me if I didn't give you some content that you can act on right away to push you towards your fitness and body composition goals...


This week:


Tuesday Workout


Jump rope (jumping jack if you don't have a rope) x 50 reps
Treadmill Sprint x 25 seconds
Burpee x 10 reps


rest for 1:30. This is one round. Complete 4-8 rounds depending on your fitness levels. Then lay on the ground and curse at me.



Wednesday Workout


Dumbell Circuit (Standing)
Hammer Curls x 4 reps
Overhead Push Press x 4 reps
Front Squat x 4 reps
Bent over rows x 4 reps


Pick a light dumbell weight for the first round through. Take your dumbells and do your 4 curls, without resting proceed into your overhead presses, then with the dumbells resting on your shoulders go right into your squats, and finally right into your rows. Without dropping the dumbells, repeat one more round. Rack your dumbells and rest for 2 minutes. Repeat x 3-7 rounds depending on fitness level. Adjust your dumbell weight if necessary. Guys, you probably went too heavy. Gals, you are probably too light. Pick weights that challenge but allow for perfect technique.





Get after it,



TSull

tssullivanjr@gmail.com

Where the Figawi? Part 2

We have roughly 7 weeks until shove off time for Figawi. How is everyone doing with their goals? Hopefully you have been getting to the gym 4-5 times a weeks, eating to support your goals, and getting plenty of rest to fuel your workouts after busy days at the office. Here are 10 random tips to help push you towards your goal of looking great on the beach of Fog Island.

1. No more skipping workouts. No more excuses, no more lying to yourself. If you want to look good or even great in your swim trunks, you have to man or wo-man up and get your ass in the gym.

2. It is time to ratchet up the intensity. Workouts need to get harder, diets need to get more strict during the week while maintaining some freedom over the weekend.

3. Three workouts per week need to be fast, circuit style workouts. Need some help with workouts? Check out this previous posts that I wrote. http://tsullsworld.blogspot.com/2009/01/men-of-exercise-rx.html

4. It is time to strip all of the sugar and starch out of your diets during the week. Get rid of bread, pasta, rice, and potato. During the weekend you can add it back in. The fastest, most effective fat loss diets are low in carbs.

5. Lift heavier weights. Start increasing weight lifted during your workouts. Same for the girls. I promise you won't get big, you will just tighten up.

6. Conditioning and cardio sessions need to be harder. If you like to run or bike, get rid of the steady state, moderate paced "cardio". Start doing sprint and recover workouts. Some good breakdowns are sprint for 30 seconds, recover for 1 minute, repeat x 10-12 reps. If you are a real self-masochist try doing Tabatas during your next run. Sprint for 20 seconds rest for 10 seconds repeating this 8 times for a total of 4 minutes. Your legs may fall off. If they haven't, rest for a couple of minutes, then repeat the protocol.

7. Start guzzling more water to help keep appetite at bay and to keep your body functioning properly.

8. Get a training partner(s) with similar goals to yours.

9. NEPA. Non-exercise Physical Activity. Move around more. Walk to work, walk to the bar, walk up stairs. Any type of movement is good for fat loss. How many fat mailmen do you know?

10. If you need a concrete, aggressive plan to hit your goals I will build a "Figawi Plan" for you for $99

Video Tour of Weymouth Facility

Here we go...

I didn't forget about you...

Friends,

I just wanted to drop a quick note. I haven't forgotten about the blog or gotten lazy with putting up new content. Yesterday was the grand opening of the new facility in Weymouth. I am putting together some pictures and a new entry for everyone to see.

I hope everyone is still on track with all of your goals. Let me know if I can be of any assistance.


Best,

TSull

tssullivanjr@gmail.com

5 of My Favorite Exercises.

Below is a list of my favorite exercises that I use for myself, my athletes, and my regular clients. I will be adding to this list during the week.

1. Bulgarian Split Squat (even though I don't know where Bulgaria is or if it even exists): I like these because they require some serious effort in terms of strength and balance, are easy to load, and some trainees who exhibit knee pain in traditional squatting can usually perform these.

2. Sumo Deadlifts: I find that these are tougher to mess up than the traditional deadlift set up. My athletes are able to keep almost a perfectly upright torso/neutral spine when performing these making them a safer exercise. I rarely see rounded backs during the sumo style. Perform these barefoot or with low profile sneakers on.

3. Pullups: These may be my favorite of all time. When people start to get strong at pullups they begin to get some serious back and arm development. Someone once said pullups were the equivalent to upper body squats and I have to agree. All variations are great in my book (pullups, chinups, parallel grip, mixed grip). Once you can do 10 perfect pullups, start adding weight. Get yourself away from lat pulldown machines.

4. Pushups: too many people rush over to the bench press station when it would be far safer and more productive to opt for pushups. Pushups are a total body exercise that engage your hands, arms, shoulders, and torso. If you can't do 20 perfect, you have no business on the bench.

5. 3 point Planks: maybe I should have started with a regular forearm plank, but I just like this progression better. When you can do a 30 second plank with ease, you need to start making the move more difficult as opposed to adding more time. By removing one of the four ground contact points you add a degree of instability that must be countered by engaging your entire torso.

Enjoy.

Training Partners.

When it comes to training, there are few things that lead to a more productive session than having like-minded people to train with. When you can get in the gym with a group of people versus training solo, you will definitely fast track your results. Working with a group will guarantee that you don't skip reps, sets, or miss a session altogether because there is built in accountability.

So if you are currently training 4 times per week, try to grab one or two people to train with once or twice per week minimum. Chances are that there is a guy or gal that works out at your gym that is on the same schedule as you and would love to have a training partner.

Another bonus to having a training partner is the innate sense of competition that is brought out of you. For me personally I usually am able to get 1-2 sessions in per week with a couple of other guys. These sessions are 3x more productive than my solo sessions. This week in particular is college spring break week so I have had the pleasure of training with Steve Byrne, Kevin Plant, My brother Jeff, cousin Brian, Brett, Hog, Matt Bren. When you can get 6-8 guys together to train, people will push themselves beyond where they thought their strength and mental toughness barriers were.

So this week, take a workout from the blog, grab a coworker, friend, sibling, or homeless guy off the street (you may have to pay his guest fee, and be a good shit and grab him a post workout drink) and hit the gym. I promise you will love the team atmosphere.


(If you don't think "rack 'em Willie wants to train with you, you are dead wrong. video not safe for work due to language.)



Go get it,

TSull

How was the weekend?

Happy St Patrick's Day from your friends in Alabama.

This past weekend is typically a monster party weekend in Boston. We were graced with two beautiful, sunny days and chances are you spent the majority of your weekend belly up to the bar or drinking green beers. Hopefully you had a blast, because that's what its all about anyway. Well now its Monday morning and time to get back in the saddle. Put the brakes on your eating and drinking from the weekend and get back on track towards your goals of being lean and mean for Figawi.

Mondays are great for getting in a serious metabolic workout. For me, I use the weekend behavior as motivation for a mean-ass session on Monday. Give this simple circuit a rip today. Simple does not mean easy.

5 Bodyweight Squats
4 T-Pushups (2 each way)
3 Pullups (assisted machine if need be)
2 Burpees

rest for 30 seconds after each round. Try to complete 10 rounds. If you are smoked at 8 rounds or even 6 rounds, shut it down there.


Let's get after it,

TSull
tssullivanjr@gmail.com

Transparency: A look in the mirror

In writing this blog, which has gained a surprising number of visitors, I try to remain completely transparent. What I mean by transparent is simple. Take a look at any of the other fitness guys and gals' blogs and you will see a huge difference from the tone and content of my information.



I believe I know my audience well enough that I can write about relevant topics. For example, I know there is no chance most of you are willing to give up alcohol (neither am I), so I give you advice in order to optimize your health and fitness while allowing for some booze consumption. I also know that there is no chance that everyone is going to eat perfect, so I advise you to eat like a saint during the week, and then allow yourself to get a little more aggressive on the weekend. Same with training. None of you have the time or want to spend the time in the gym that other fitness professionals advise. If I can give you something that will be 30 minutes and done, I think the chances of you actually following it increase tenfold. Well anyways, here is a peak into what I have been up to:



Training:



Looking at the notebook I keep as a training log, there is a pattern over the past 5 weeks...

• 3 times per week I lift heavy weights. exercises include squat variations, deadlift variations, tons of pullups, rows, and presses.


• 2 times per week I do a conditioning circuit like the 15 minute circuits I have written about in the past.


• At least once per week I play hockey for RX and I usually go pretty hard

Nutrition:

Monday through Friday afternoon, I eat the same exact thing.

1. 4 eggs, wheat toast, tons of water

2. Protein Shake

3. Post workout protein shake

4. Dinner of chicken, fish, or steak with veggies (NO STARCH)

Come Friday night, I usually have a bunch of drinks and an appetizer or two, and then maintain mediocre nutrition for the remainder of the weekend, with the occasional Chinese food feed with my family Sunday nights. Come Monday, right back on the wagon.

Is this a GREAT diet? Absolutely not. Has it been working? You bet. I have gotten bigger, stronger, leaner, and faster.

Take some of the pieces that will work for you and put them to work today.

Where the Figawi?

Today is Thursday, March 5th, 2009. In order to help everyone with a little motivation with all of this snow and cold hanging around the northeast, I issue you a challenge.

A large number of people I associate with and that follow this blog will be descending on the island of Nantucket like a pack of crazed maniacs for Figawi Weekend (May 21st-May24th). Here is an excerpt from the official website:

"The 38th Annual Figawi Race Weekend is recognized as a top sailing event not only on the east coast but is known nationally as well as internationally. Figawi Race Weekend kicks off the the Cape Cod and Nantucket summer season. Entries include sailors from several states 240+ boats (including 30 power boats) and over 3,000 sailors and visitors, as well as locals, attend this event.For more information please reference the links at the left.More information about Figawi 2009 will be posted here when available in Winter 2009."

If you are wondering how much time you have before this glorious weekend of life on earth, you have exactly 11 weeks. Why am I telling you all of this? What if you aren't even going or located in the Northeast?

The first answer is easy. We are going to take this date for our deadline. I always talk about picking measurable goals, with specific timelines, so here it is. Even if you aren't going to Figawi, use this date with us. The goal is simple. For this weekend, you need to be the leanest specimen you can posibly be. And get aggressive with your goal. As an example, my new revised goal for 11 weeks from now is to be 195 pounds, with single digit bodyfat by the time I get on the ferry. For you, this may be too aggressive. If you are overweight your goal is to lose 25 pounds of bodyfat in 11 weeks. That means you have to lose 2+ pounds every week until Figawi. So pick a goal that is applicable to your situation. Girls, if you already weigh 120 pounds and are pretty lean, 25 pounds of fat loss is stupid. Try to maintain your weight and get "harder". This means changing the way you workout. You need to lift weights. Same for you 145 pound guys. Beef it up for the next 11 weeks. If you don't know how ask. Why would you want to make your life difficult for the next 77 days?

Here is how a typical Nantucket weekend is going to go. We are all going to meet up for the evening SLOW ferry over to Nantucket. This allows for extra time to build excitement and anticipation (and they serve drinks on the ferry). Next, we get off and head to a local watering hole. After "shenanies" all night, we wake up on Friday morning and head to the beach. We have everything we need, beach chairs, grills, horseshoe stakes, bean bag toss, coolers and great company. With any luck it will be great weather. Now is the moment of truth. Guys, you peel off those shirts to get a bronze on and people will definitely notice you. They will either talk about your sloppy physique complete with muffin top, or they will say Holy Shit! Jake really has been crushing the gym. Girls, you will shimmy out of your beach dresses and people will think "Jesus, she really should be in a one piece" or "wow, serious hard body". The choice is yours and ONLY yours.

Over the next few blog updates I will be giving you new workouts to try, diet strategies to employ, and other tidbits to aid you in your journey.

So what do you say?

Spring Strength Session

Today I wanted to spread the word about the Spring Strength Session over at STS. Below are some details. If you know any athletes in the Massachusetts area, help me get the word out.


When: March 9, 2009 – May 29, 2009 (12 weeks)

Time Slots: 3:00pm, 4:00pm, 5:00pm, 6:00pm, 7:00pm


Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Training Schedule
Where: March: 86 Hancock Street, Braintree, Ma

April-May: Brand new state of the art facility located at:
65 Mathewson Drive, Weymouth, Ma. New Facility located 5 miles from current facility


What: 90 minute Strength and Conditioning Sessions, performed in groups of up to 8 athletes

Who: Sessions will be led by Tom Sullivan, Owner/Operator of STS. He can be reached at tssullivanjr@gmail.com and 781.831.3901


Cost: 3 payments of $219 due on 1st session of each month

A Few Friday Thoughts

Happy Friday everybody.

Today's post will revisit our New Year's resolutions. If you have been following along with me here, you know that I am not a believer in traditional New Years Ressy's but am a huge proponent of specific, measurable, achievable goals.

It is now the end of February and we are 15 percent through 2009. Pretty scary. Let's look at the following common goals and see where you are.

1. You wanted to lose 20 pounds by bathing suit season. In order to be on track for your goal you need to be down 3-4 pounds. Are you?

Instead of ripping through a bunch of different goals, let's look at this one. Maybe you aren't down 3 pounds, but instead you are up 3 pounds. Maybe you are down 4 pounds, if so congratulations, keep it going.

If you are not on track right now, take a look at where you went wrong and start doing things to fix it. Set a new goal and a new timeline and get aggressive. If you need my help, just ask.



Have a great weekend,

TSull
tssullivanjr@gmail.com


PS. I started the year at 215 pounds. As of this morning I am at 204 pounds. If I was 216 pounds I would expect you all to stop reading this blog.

Breaking News: Sullivan Training Systems is Moving!

(Top pic is the new space. Bottom Pic is the current space in Braintree.)

I wanted to take an opportunity this morning to update everyone on the "State of STS". As of last week I signed a lease on a new location for the facility. The new facility will be located 5 miles up the road from the current spot at 65 Mathewson Drive, Weymouth, Ma, Suite B. The new spot will give us an opportunity to expand the business due to its size and design. The new space's training area is roughly 4 times the size of the Braintree location allowing for more athletes, staff, new equipment, and the ability to offer different training programs. Needless to say I am very excited about the move which will take place April 1st.

Also I would like to recognize the work of my Real Estate Broker, Colin Greenhalgh. I have known Colin for years but had never dealt with him on a professional level. The process started with me calling Colin one day telling him of my plans to try and secure a new location before Summer '09. From that initial phone call the process and transaction were completely painless for me. Colin handled all of the behind the scenes work, showed me a bunch of different properties and helped me negotiate the best possible deal for my business. If you or anyone you know has any real estate needs, call Colin. He will be handling all of my future needs. He can be reached at cgreenhalgh@gvaboston.com.

The online coaching program I launched a couple months back has been a huge success so far. For $147 I will build you a 12 week training program. This takes all of the guesswork out of training and allows you to hit all of your goals in the process. Let me know if you are interested.

Have a great day,

TSull

tssullivanjr@gmail.com