Articles

Roger Lawson and JC Deen Podcast #1

January 23, 2012 By JC Deen 24 Comments

JC Deen | Alan Aragon | Roger Lawson

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Roger Lawson of RogLawfitness.com and I have put together our very first podcast after many requests. It was our first one, and we’re just having fun with it. We plan to do a few of these every month – so if you have anything you want us to cover, feel free to contact either one of us with your ideas and questions.

You can either listen below by clicking the “play” button or alternatively, right clicking the link here and saving it to your computer. It’s about 50 minutes long, so if you don’t have time to listen now, make sure you download it for later.

Know When To Walk Away

January 18, 2012 By JC Deen 25 Comments

JC Deen - zombified

I know you’ve been there. Perhaps today is one of those days…

You’re stale, weak, and dehydrated from the previous nights (insert crazy activities here). On top of that, you’re running off fumes from some weak espresso you picked up on your way to work. You still have the bitter taste of day-old coffee on your palate.

By lunchtime, you’re famished; but the container of hardboiled eggs, and that soggy tuna sandwich you whipped together will tide you over until you hit the gym for back and bicep day.

As you plow through the rest of your shift, you continually nod off; quickly looking up after each mini-snooze to be sure no one caught you sleeping on the job. In the back of your mind, you know the smart thing would be to head home, get into something comfortable, and chill out for the night.

But that’s the rational thing to do, and we’re not rational beings.

No, we continually find a reason to go against logical thought processes and dive into senseless acts of I-can-do-whatever-I-put-my-mind-to insanity.

Once we get to the gym, one of two things will happen. If, and only if we’re lucky, our workout goes smoothly and according to plan – nothing out of the ordinary and we make it out alive, for the most part.

Nine times out of ten, though, it will go pretty sour. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Random Thoughts

How I Plan to Power Through 2012 Like A Boss

January 3, 2012 By JC Deen 14 Comments

Okay, so it’s the 3^rd day of 2012 and I’m sure you’ve read a bunch of motivational posts on how to get fit and healthy, or [insert whatever resolution here]. If so, then good – we definitely need to be reading this type of material.

I actually read a few pieces that got me really excited. One in particular was Jason Ferruggia’s latest article, My Personal Journey to Hell and Back – talk about an amazing story of courage and vigor.

If you want to be inspired, you can even read my story I published a little while back at the ChangeBlog – How Extreme Focus Can Change Your Life.

Look, I know it’s the beginning of the year and if you’re like most people, you’ve been dealing with the whole idea of making some New Year’s Resolutions. I sometimes get caught up in hating on the whole idea of making them because, let’s face it, most people suck at committing. I wrote about it last year and even said to Screw Your New Year’s Resolutions as a result.

I’m not really bitter about setting goals for the New Year; I just hate seeing people get really excited for a few weeks only to peter off into their old habits and give up altogether. It’s not that our intentions are bad or unwholesome – it’s usually a problem with biting off more than we can chew and being unrealistic.

Today, instead of giving advice on what to do, I want to share with you some ideas and methods that I’m going to be using to help me succeed in all that I’ve been planning the last 3-4 months for the upcoming year.

I’m also going to share with you some things I’ve learned about goal setting and how I’ve been able to be successful as a result of applying some of these methods.

No More Than A Handful

It’s a funny saying, but last summer, I was talking with a mentor of mine and I was sharing with him all the things I wanted to do within the next 6 months and how I should go about achieving them. I then asked how I should go about it.

He replied with, “no more than a handful.”

I sat there for a minute… “What?” I asked.

He said “you cannot do everything at once, and I know short your attention span is – pick no more than 5 tasks to conquer and choose them wisely. Make sure you can dump a ton of passion into them and be willing work on them when you’re tired and not feeling up to it.”

As a scatterbrained, mind-racing polymath, I got all worried. It was time to let go. I sat down and drew a map of what I wanted to accomplish with regards to my fitness writing, putting out a training manual, getting published in various outlets, growing my readership, etc., and then I chose what mattered most.

I disregarded the smaller goals and pushed the more important ones to the forefront of my mind and that’s what I began to work on.

So one thing that’s been very beneficial to me is to be selective in what I’m pursuing, and to stop biting off more than I can chew.

Here’s a warning: you will get burnt out if you take on more than you can handle. I am a testament to this many times over but I’ve finally learned how to say no. I am very comfortable with the amount of work I can take over a certain period and I won’t take on any more. It’s not worth the loss of sleep and I hate not being able to do my very best.

Give Me 5 Minutes of Your Day

Back in November, I did a piece for Greatist.com and had the chance to chat with Leo Babauta as he contributed to my article titled: Making Health & Fitness Complement Your Life.

When I got the response email from Leo, I read it over and over and over again. His advice was so simple, yet very powerful and I began to use it with various tasks that I’d been putting off (for whatever reason).

I asked him for some tips he’d give to those who wanted to make fitness complement their life. His response was:

“Start small. You might see the fittest people committing hours to exercise, but they’re like the black belts. All you need to do is start. Commit to doing five minutes of an activity you enjoy, every day, and commit to changing one thing about what you eat— replace a junk food with something healthy you enjoy. You can find time for five minutes. Slowly, you’ll see yourself improve, and you’ll want to make more room for fitness.”

5 Freaking Minutes! That’s it – all it takes. After I read this, I began practicing it to see what would happen.

There are few things I hate doing but one of them is mobility work. It’s becoming more important as I’m sitting more during the day, so outside of my daily walks, it’s imperative that I do more foam rolling and stretching to remain limber and mobile for my strength training and brogramming.

So I started with 5 minutes working on the tightest areas (ankles and hips). After 5 minutes was up, I stopped and realized that it wasn’t so bad. I did it again the next day, but went a minute longer. I kept going until it was just normal – in short, I created a habit. Turns out, it was just a problem getting started. Give me 5 minutes.

Along with saying that, forming new habits is not always an easy task – it requires diligence and persistence, but forming them can be very rewarding. To learn more about the 5-minute process, read this article.

Check out my friend Andrew’s video below where he talks about how to succeed in 2012 by creating new habits.

I love how Andrew mentions, as I said earlier, that most people bite off more than they can chew and only get discouraged early on. Start small, start slow and give it 5 minutes per day. Give yourself time to work into a consistent plan of action.

What Am I Working On?

I have quite a few major goals/projects that will be taking up a lot of my time, but I won’t go into them for sake of this example. Below, I’m going to give you some things I’m working on daily and how I plan to continually improve each one.

Okay, here we go – interviews are like confessions…

Daily Squatting – I’ve decided to begin daily squatting and today is actually day 6 for me. However, I’m not doing it in the traditional, Olympic lifting sense where I get under a heavy bar for 3 intense reps.

When I’m not doing legs, I’m either finishing up my workout with some light goblet squats or doing bodyweight squats and stretches at home. The reason I’m doing this is to improve my ankle, and hip mobility so I can do full, butt to calves Olympic-style front squats. I’m almost there when placing 2.5lb plates under my heels.

Zen Meditation – I’m not doing this for any reason that is religious. I’m doing it for the supposed positive neural changes that can manifest in the brain from becoming good at meditation and also because I’d like to know what it really feels like to turn off so to speak. For as long as I can remember, my mind has always raced 100 miles per hour.

Nick Horton is one of my biggest influences in the strength and conditioning world. His work and daily practice of meditation has inspired me to try it out. He’s a fine human being and someone I very much look up to. In fact, I just finished reading his new book Samurai Strength (not an affiliate link), in which he discusses the importance of embracing the practice of Zen Meditation to become a better Olympic lifter and athlete.

So as per his instructions in the book, I’m sitting down and counting my breath for as long as I can stand it (the last few days has been about 5-6 minutes before my mind completely wanders). I hope to improve and get to 20-30 minutes within the next few months. Then maybe, just maybe I’ll be able to practice for an hour at a time some day.

Daily Affirmations – A good friend and I had a chat the other day and made the decision to practice daily affirmations. I made a rule that we could only choose 5 and that we had to say them aloud every morning before we officially started our day. We could say them more if we wished, but it’s only required in the morning.Our subconscious minds are very powerful – the more we associate positive thoughts and outlooks with what we want out of life, the better position we are in when it comes to actually achieving what we set out to do.

Spend Time Maintaining Current/Building New Relationships – I traveled a ton in 2011 and I plan to do so again this year. Something I love more than anything is building relationships and getting to know new people. Thank heavens for the internetz – I’ve made so many awesome friendships because of it.

So, I will continue my travel-hacking extravaganza by using credit cards and promotional offers to my advantage to fly for practically free. I plan to revisit NYC, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Kansas City (JP Fitness Summit) and probably go skydiving in Vegas again. Yes, this is part of my goal-planning for the year.

How I Plan To Power Through 2012 Like a Boss

I’m going to put complete focus on my goals – they’re specific, and few. I’m not biting off more than I can chew. I’ve committed myself to daily practice and to build habits that will sustain me over the coming months.

For my training, I know what I want and how strong I wish to get. I’m smart, and confident in my programming and in those I consult with to look over my programming.

I will look back this time next year and be excited with what I’ve done and how far I’ve come. I will be proud to know that I’ve helped 10x more people this year than I did last year.

I will wake up every day and live like tomorrow ain’t gonna come. I will give without expecting anything in return and I will continue to pay it forward.

I will never, ever give up.

Resources To Help You Succeed in 2012

I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t give you some other sources to take with you as you embark on your journey into 2012. So below, I want to share some sites and people who I think you’ll benefit very much from.

Fitocracy.com – I’ve had the pleasure of hanging with Dick Talens in both New York City and Mountain View, California (where I met his partners in crime, Brian Wang and Daniel Roesler) and I cannot say enough about them all. They’re crazy about creating an awesome experience for fitness people and some of the most giving dudes I’ve ever met. If you hvaen’t checked out Fitocracy yet, see what it’s all about here: http://ftcy.co/lNdGWL <— Invite code.

Syatt Fitness – I remember a few months back when Jordan added me on Facebook. Little did I know I’d become such good friends with the guy but I’m sure glad he reached out to me. He’s Westside Barbell certified and currently interning at Cressey Performance. Guess what? He’s not even 21 yet and is already making waves in the industry. His writing is great, and he’s one of the most knowledgeable guys I know. Definitely be on the lookout for this guy in 2012.

Nick Horton – One of my favorite strength coaches currently and it’s not because I love the way he teaches the snatch. It’s because he’s on a level that many other coaches aren’t, in my opinion. His writing cuts deep and he’s not afraid to tell it like it is, even if it means he offends and loses a few readers. I have mad respect for him and have learned a tremendous amount from his writing and his YouTube videos are pretty good, too.

Matt Perryman – Okay, so this dude is smart. Don’t believe me? Just check out the section I linked to and start learning about daily squatting, autoregulation, and various ramblings on neuroscience. He’s also got a new book coming out – I read the first version about a year ago and cannot wait for the revised edition.

Sohee Lee – I had the chance to meet up with Sohee last month during my travels to San Francisco. There we trained and stuffed our faces together. She’s currently wrapping up her 4-year studies in Human Biology at Stanford, is a NSCA certified personal trainer and a NPC bikini competitor. I got to train with her and she out-lifted many of the guys working out that night.

Her story is powerful and I recommend you get to know her as she brings it in 2012. We (RogLaw and I) just got her site set up a few days ago – so be sure to subscribe and check back as she fills it with awesome content.

FitID.com – FitID is a brand new company that launched over the New Year. A dear friend of mine, Kenneth Yim, is one of the co-founders and I’m happy to be one of the first to know about it. In fact, when I was sleeping on his couch during my stay in New York, we had a lot of time to talk about where he plans to take FitID and his aim for the user experience. I think it’s going to be a great, supportive fitness community.

GirlsGoneStrong – I can’t get enough of them. These girls keep me on my toes because, umm, they’re really strong and if I’m not careful, they might catch up to my lifts and embarrass me. Seriously though, if you’re on Facebook – do yourself a favor and follow this group. Big things are sure to come from them.

RogLawFitness and JCDFitness Podcast – That’s right folks, we plan to begin podcasting sometime this month. I’m hoping we’ll get out at least one episode before the end of January, and then hopefully crank at least 2 out per month.

As of right now, we have some ideas for content, but we’d love to hear from you if you have any ideas you’d like use to go over. Don’t worry; you’ll get all the comedy at no extra charge (it’s free, anyway).

I just hope you don’t think less of me when you hear my southern accent.

—-So what are you going to conquer in 2012?—-

Filed Under: Motivation Tagged With: Motivation

The More I Learn, The Less I Know

December 23, 2011 By JC Deen 18 Comments

It’s true – the more I learn, the more I wonder how much I really know. The fact is, this is completely true for all of us – we’re only capable of really knowing a small amount of information and knowing it very well on our own.

Sure, we can memorize a bunch of random facts or terms, but is it something we really know, or something we’re just familiar with? There’s a difference.

This is my last article of 2011 and I didn’t want it to be the typical motivation-for-not-stuffing-your-face-over-the-Holidays type of post. Sure, those are great, but I’ve already done that and others have done a really good job of it as well.

In retrospect, I’ve been very fortunate to travel all over the country and spend time with other professionals learning and building relationships this past year.

I won’t go into every single detail, but I want to highlight the importance of realizing we can’t know everything and just how pertinent it is to build relationships with others to aid you in your journey to understanding and a fulfilling education. In this case, I’m mainly speaking from a place of our fitness education, but it can be applied to other areas of our lives too.

I Love To Learn

I get a lot of questions about training and diet – mostly from readers and clients, but I even get the occasional question over dinner or when I’m out and about in situations not in any way related to fitness – those times when I’m out with a girl or with my family for dinner.

I began to think about my conversations and how I go about formulating my thoughts. My responses to certain questions are far different now than what they were a year ago, so it’s clear something has changed. As a result, I’ve been reflecting about how my views have altered when it comes to diet, training and other goals.

In a sense, it’s part of my evolution as a science-focused trainer and physique-enhancing counselor.

There are a few people who’ve really shaped my views over the last year, and they probably have no idea just how much of an impact they’ve had on me from a training and even a personal level.

Today I want touch upon a few of them and explain what they’ve helped me to understand, why It’s important, and hopefully it’ll encourage you to open your mind a bit more going into the new year. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Random Thoughts Tagged With: Random Thoughts

The Official JCDFitness Recomp Manual – Coming Soon

December 7, 2011 By JC Deen 39 Comments

Wow, I’ve actually made some headway with this recomposition guide!

That’s right, I’ve been working on the JCDFitness Recomp manual I referenced in my last series of articles. Segment taken from the last article:

In the last few posts, I mentioned the idea of me going to work on a manual for body recomposition. I’ve been working on the content, training programs, diet calculators and am almost to a point of a pre-release of sorts. I will give some more information on that next week after I wrap some stuff up and get a few things ironed out.

And we are finally to the point of pre-release. Aside from having most of the content outlined and written, I’ve been at work putting together a handful of training programs, diet guidelines and I’m ready to put them to the test.

The plan for the full release is sometime after the first of the year. I say sometime because I want to spend as much time required making it the best it can be.

And how do we do that?

I need you to test out my training methods, the diet calculators, and in turn provide me feedback in case I need to add, remove, or improve anything for the final release.

As a result, I’m creating a closed beta version of the guide and will open it for a short time (will most likely close on Monday afternoon or when I reach maximum capacity).

JCDFitness Recomposition Manual Beta Test

To ensure everyone gets the most out of the training and diet methods presented in this guide, I need to get some more feedback. So far, I’ve used similar methods on current and past clients with much success, but I want to expand my reach.

And that’s where you come in.

In the previous articles about our fitness struggles, many stated their problems with consistency, coaching ourselves, having too many choices, and the simple issue of getting it all together to make our efforts work for us.

I understand these are real problems and my goal is to help alleviate these – but more on that in a second. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Goals, Training

Turn Your Fitness Struggles into Strengths

November 30, 2011 By JC Deen 17 Comments

Quote Credit: Gaspari Nutrition // Artwork: JC Deen (http://jcdeen.com/)

The quote above is actually from a bodybuilding magazine we get at the house every month. I did some Googling and found out it’s originally from Gaspari Nutrition.

As I read it, I couldn’t help but be inspired – inspired to forget about perfection and to focus on action. All of my life I’ve been an extreme perfectionist – mostly to the point of obsession and for some of the activities I participate in, its quite crippling.

But the quote made me realize that in the end, it doesn’t really matter – what matters most is that I make a concerted effort, along with a congenial flipping of the bird to the world every now and then, and to Just. Keep. Doing. It. “It” in this sense, is whatever is important to me (and you) and that I continue to do it with fervor and courage.

Some say obsession is my gift while I’ve called it a curse. I’m still figuring it out.

We All Struggle

A few weeks back, I did a poll of sorts, and asked you what your biggest fitness struggle was. With close to 50 comments on the article and a ton of personal emails, it’s clear we all have similar issues when it comes to our personal fitness.

The good news is that all of the struggles we’re plagued with are indeed curable with intent to inflict positive change, a willingness to never stop learning, and a solid plan of action – do not forget this part. Action.

As I went through the comments and emails, I kept seeing a pattern of certain behaviors. The funny thing is I could relate to every single one at some point in my fitness pursuits.

Today we’re going to talk about each of them, why we’re having the issues, and an idea of how to go about conquering them.

To kick this off, we’ll start with one issue that plagues just about every beginner and even veterans like myself – the problem with consistency. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Motivation

Shoulder Savers – How to Keep Your Shoulders Healthy Post-Rehab

November 16, 2011 By JC Deen 26 Comments

For many of us, personal fitness, strength training and conditioning is a hobby. For others, it’s a passion. For a select few of us, it’s our lifeblood. Regardless of where this positive obsession with self-improvement is placed in your lives, we all have something in common – to continue progressing, we must remain healthy.

If you’ve followed my work for the last few years, you know I’ve battled my fair share of shoulder injuries. Now while I’ve never had anything so severe as an actual tear in my rotator cuff or labrum, I’ve experienced a few painful impingements that have kept me out of the pressing game for what seemed to be far too long.

Regardless of how severe your injury, they’re never any fun and are sure to sideline you for anywhere from a few months, to a year or more in some cases.

Previously, I wrote about how I corrected my shoulder issues with the help of Eric Cressey via email and various articles he’s written on the subject.

However, today I want to give you some tips and ideas on how to maintain shoulder health post rehab. If you’ve never been injured, then my goal is to help you keep yourself from ever getting hurt in the first place. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Rehabilitation Tagged With: shoulder savers

What’s Your Biggest Fitness Struggle?

November 9, 2011 By JC Deen 53 Comments

Last month, I mentioned that JCDFitness turned 3 years old in October and I had an awesome time celebrating birthday month with friends such as John Romaniello, Roger Lawson, Kenneth Yim, Dick Talens and others in New York City.

But that’s not the exact reason for this short post.

You see, there are a few things I discovered on my trip to New York City. One thing is there’s an endless amount of awesome food in Manhattan and I think I could eat pizza everyday and never get sick of it.

Something else I learned is getting lost on the subway is not the most fun way to kill time, but it will sure keep you from biting your nails (ever hung onto one of those rails??).

Okay, but seriously – the main thing I learned whilst being gone was that our time is very valuable. I mean, I’ve always known this, but I really got it on this trip.

How? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Birthday Month for JCDFitness + Some News

October 21, 2011 By JC Deen 25 Comments

In my house, we don’t believe in cutting off our birthday celebration at the 24 hour mark – no, we celebrate the entire month. As a result, there are three months of celebration.

We have March (my roommate) and this year we spent time in Vegas for his celebration. We have August (my birthday) where I spent 3 weeks in Hollywood CA playing and working, and this month is the 3 year mark for JCDFitness.com.

Yes, my friends, that’s practically forever in internet years considering how many websites are created daily that never get updated and fall into the interwebz abyss.

In fact it’s hard to believe, but I put up the first post on October 15^th, 2008. I’m sort of embarrassed to make that post so public as I was an awful writer when I started (just scan the archives…). In fact, I’d never written much more than a high school paper when I started JCDFitness.

Anyhow, THANK YOU for reading and sharing my work over the last 3 years. I’ve made a lot of great friends in the process and I look forward to creating more awesome relationships in the next 3+ years to come.

To celebrate birthday month, I’ll be doing a little traveling. I leave next Thursday for Boston in which I’ll be visiting friends such as Roger Lawson of RogLawfitness.com, eating lots of ribs and seeing the city.

On the 30^th, I’ll be heading to New York City to hang with Kenneth Yim of FitID.com, Dick Talens of Fitocracy.com (get a personal invite here), John Romaniello, as well as paying a visit to the folks at Greatist.com.

So while this trip will be fun, I’ll also be working a lot as well. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Random Thoughts

The Accidental Recomp – Mike Fields’ Progress Report

October 15, 2011 By JC Deen 19 Comments

In the past, I’ve written about ways to recompose our bodies through alternating high and low calorie days. For more reading, check out Part 1, Part 2 or a more recent piece titled Body Recomposition without Counting Calories?

However, it’s something I rarely advise for my personal clients as it’s a slow, arduous process and likely better to focus on one goal at a time. Also, most of us find it troublesome as we deal with analysis paralysis and it’s usually better to limit our choices so as not to screw it all up.

Today is a rather interesting scenario of a client who I initially set up on an intermittent fasting plan to drop some body fat, but ended up recomp-ing in the process, and I’m fairly happy with his results thus far.

When Mike came to me, he was fairly lean already as you can see in his before picture on the left. Truth be told, he tore his ACL late last year and had surgery to repair it in early January 2011. Prior to the injury, he’d been training fairly regularly and been as heavy as 190lbs, body fat unknown.

After the surgery, he of course lost a good bit of weight and had emailed me mid February asking about how to go about getting back in shape – his main concern was learning about setting up his diet and practicing Intermittent Fasting on his way to his previous state, but in a leaner, stronger fashion.

After I learned it’d only been about 6 weeks since his surgery, I suggested he skip the sub-maintenance eating for now and allow the extra calories to fuel his recovery. No sense in inhibiting the healing process eating below maintenance.

Fast forward to June – we begin emailing again. He’d been cleared to lift again and had been in the gym for a while rebuilding his strength.

His starting weight was about 177-178lbs when he got to me. Pre-injury, his strength levels were pretty impressive for his size and age (he’s 20 now) with a previous bench of 335lbs and squat of 365lbs. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Clients Tagged With: Clients, Transformation

Roger Lawson and JC Deen Podcast #1

Contents: