Training or Simply Moving?: Coaches’ Corner w/ Jason Haynes

August 22, 2014 by Allen Elliott

Today’s post is our latest installment of a new series called the “Coaches Corner.” Our Adonis Transformation Coaches will share their knowledge, experience, and best practices to help ensure your successful transformation. To continue the series, our topic comes from none other than AGR Pioneer, Jason Haynes.

When it comes to working out, how do you check the block? Are you training or simply moving?

Training or Simply Moving?

I know an extremely popular topic for trainers, coaches and just fitness blogs in general goes along the lines of “Are you training or just working out?” In some ways this is, admittedly, a similar one..to be fair, there is only so much you can say about the topic.

I suppose the motivation for this post is seeing something on a corner of a community where I currently work my day job. See, I currently work labor/construction (have to provide for my family as soon as we arrived in the US, after all) and the communities I am stationed at are quite rich. As such, it is not uncommon to see groups of neighbors gathered together for early morning….uh…”exercise time.”

Granted, I don’t stand around and watch these gaggles of what are normally housewives for too long as I have work to do, but it’s not uncommon for me to pass by their general vicinity several times over the course of several hours. What strikes me as funny is that they are so absorbed in their topics of conversation that they seem oblivious to the fact that they are not only in the same places as they have been for the prior hour or two, but many of them are doing the exact same thing as well. Things like: the woman who is stretching her calves on a curb is still standing there “stretching” her calves…same position, same curb, same place in the circle, and SAME CALF!!

They are usually decked out in all their apparrelled glory: matching jogging clothes with matching shoes and whatever gadgets and gizmos that they want strapped to them. Now, I have no problem with getting training gear…even to the point of <gasp> matching…but when the gear is only worn and not actually used for the purpose it was intended for…well, then I have to pull a “ridiculous” card on this training foul.

I mean, come on.

TRAIN OR REMAIN THE SAME!

Hey, I am totally for people exercising just to get moving and get outside. If someone actually does it for health purposes, I am all for it. Good for you. If you choose to train with running or whatever and don’t even touch a weight because your are not interested in building muscle, then I will actually support you in your endeavor.

At least you are DOING something. Movement is good. Weights are better, but still…good for you.

Granted, this is just exercising…not training. Again, if you want to exercise for the reason of simply moving and getting the “ol” heartrate up, then go for it. I’ll even encourage you.

Don’t expect me to go on a run with you, though. I am not interested.

See, my time to train is limited and I need to spend it wisely, focused, and staying on target with my goals, which are not the same as yours (in the context of the people who exercise for health/movement purposes only).

This situation, sadly, is not limited to only the housewives running club…which never seems to actually get running….it also happens in the gym, unfortunately.

Warning: I’m about to go “inhuman mode” on ya.

Someone once called me “inhuman” for my dedication to my training and caloric discipline. But you know what? That is what is NEEDED to succeed with transforming your body.

Look,I have under 40 minutes to devote to training each day. Yes, I could get up earlier, but at this point if the number “4” is in the hours spot of the clock, it just isn’t happening at this point. For some reason, 5AM sounds better to me than ANYTHING beginning with a “4” and then “AM”after it.

Usually I have under 30 minutes to train…sometimes 40, but not often. I don’t have time to play around and linger. I need to get to work with the weights. I am not there to “exercise” or to “move” or whatever…I am there to keep the muscle mass I have and to gain as much more as possible while I still can. My age is not working in my favor in this equation, so it’s even more imperative to get busy and stay focused.

Put on the game face…get busy. Time’s ticking.

I see people lollygagging and simply wasting time. You may think “maybe they are talking between sets,” but I have yet to see a good training program (with the exception of some powerlifting templates) that has 5-10 minute resting periods and, quite frankly, the poundage of the weights they use does not put them in that category…far from it.

Which leads me to conclude that they are simply moving weight to “get moving” and to use their muscles. You know what? Good for you, dude! Good for you, dudette! At least you are doing something other than nothing.

But as for me: I need to know that I would be sweating if the air conditioning in the gym wasn’t set at freezing, I need to feel my muscles burn, full well feeling each intended muscle targeted.

I am not there for “health” reasons. Health improves naturally with a fit body. Train properly, as with the AGR Systems, and your heart gets a good training session in as well…no need to do cardio if you don’t have the time or desire.

Yes, it’s not easy to make friends at the gym with my training mentality…I simply cannot let myself slide into their ways. Nothing personal against them…but I have two places of work: the gym and my job. I am at neither one with the goal of socializing and making friends…I have a job to do and I will get it done.

Yes, there are are some tips and tricks and mindset things involved in this process as well…and your AGR Premiere Coaches are ready and willing to share those with you to help you get to your goals. With another AGR Transformation competition coming up within a few weeks, now might be a good time to get started with your transformation.

Many guys don’t get started with their competition until it is officially announced…only to have to deal with traps, pits, problems and other issues that come up naturally during life and training. By getting started early, you can encounter and adjust to these issues in order to ultimately conquer them. AGR Premiere Coaching can certainly help you with these things as well as many others, including the accountability that so many of us are needing.

If you have not purchased the AGR systems, why not? Get it here.

Even top athletes…the best of the best…have coaches to get them to the top of their game. If even the most elite athletes know the value of a coach, there is certainly something to being coached. Check out our AGR Coaching program.

Look…guys…ladies…there is a time and place for things. If achieving your ideal body is something important to you…if reaping the benefits of a healthy and strong body appeals to you, don’t waste your time. Get the program, get help, get focused, and get busy.

Train Hard, Train Smart.

Jason

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

ADONIS ORIGINS: Jason Haynes | Circa 2009-2010

Jason Haynes is one of the oldest members of the AGR community and has been around since he participated in the first and second AGR Transformation Competitions, of which he placed second and first, respectively. Having found a system that he is confident in and that works, he has faithfully stuck by it ever since. Now in his 40’s, Jason enjoys living the life of maintaining his physique easily and with little effort, thanks to the AGR system and tools provided. He is also a coach in the Adonis Premiere Coaching program and desires to help anyone to achieve their fitness goals.

ADONIS LEGEND: Jason Haynes | June 2014

Filed Under: diet, exercise, Featured Articles, Phi Life, Sage Advice Tagged With: agr coaching program, Becoming Golden, coaches corner, coaching, Fitness, moving, Training, transformation, Weight Loss

Distractions: Coaches’ Corner w/ Jason Haynes

August 15, 2014 by Allen Elliott

DISTRACTIONS

For the past 10 years or so all of my gym experiences been either at home gym or at small hole-in-the-wall dungeons during off hours when not many people go there. I don’t know but I like to train solo with not many people with his minimal distractions as possible (sidenote: if you’re ever gonna play music for a visitor to your country just because it’s in the native language of the person that doesn’t mean it’s a good choice for listing music. I had someone once play “I’m a big big girl” while I was deadlifting! I mean, I was on that last grinding rep when the song came on. I just felt my testosterone flee from me and I dropped the weight).

Anyway, coming back to the US has been a trip in so many ways and certainly the gym is among one of the most interesting ones. In my previous blog I talked about just the over abundance of highly caloric and tasty foods that you can find readily in this place, but today I’m gonna focus on the gym itself.

So here I am in Southern California. There is a wide array of gyms and plenty of choices…most of them are open at good hours. The place I go to is pretty much ok… it’s cheap, serves my purposes, the weight of the dumbbells go high enough, and there’s a wide assortment of machines. So, that’s good. At the time I go there (at about 5:30 in the morning) only a few guys are in the weight section…and these are the guys who are there are to work out.

Or are they? A few…yes,but the others…I am not so sure. (Another blog post, maybe).

“It’s been a process of learning NOT to be distracted by what I see around me.” – Jason Haynes

Anyway, the first time that I stepped into that place to work out was just a shock. As I said in the beginning of this blog…the last 10 years was simple and effective. Nothing but weights and the occasional TV in front of the treadmills. So…I walked in the gym, and I I just stood there staring at what was nearly unbelievable to me. I felt like I was in a panorama of big flat/plasma screen TVs…each one tuned into a different station. I hadn’t even begun to lift a weight yet and there I was transfixed on over a dozen screens.

It was so distracting. I think my 45 minute workout must have taken about an hour and a half because all I did was get constantly distracted. One TV station had Big Ten football, on another one is the all sports station, yet another one had UFC fighting (oh wait no that’s every day..but on that particular day they were doing prop airplanes flying through a slalom course of probably hundred foot tall pylons. Up until that point, I thought that stuff was only in video games).

It was reedicyoulous!

If my memory serves right: six TVs along the cardio stations, three other TVs along the left side, there’s at least four along the right side and then there’s two or three along the other side of this building. Each one is turned to a different station, granting a great opportunity for…say it with me..

Distractions.

“Each of the coaches there has worked hard, achieved the golden ratio, and maintained it. We have some insight and tricks than can help you stay focused and get on track, if necessary.” – Jason Haynes

It’s been a month since I’ve been going here to the gym (in fact I just renewed my monthly dues this today). It’s been a process of learning NOT to be distracted by what I see around me. I think it was pretty easy to learn it, actually, as I have had many years of no distractions and have adapted that mindset. I don’t know if I would have adjusted as easy if I had not had all those years behind me.

I have to tune out because I only have 30 minutes to get my training done so I pretty much ignore what’s going on around me. Yes, I am still cordial an courteous and everything else according to social convention, but I just can’t allow distractions to interfere.

Man, that UFC program that always plays at my training time REALLY challenges my focus, though.

I have to keep a mental countdown in my head every time of every second. I don’t rely on stopwatches anything like that but the risk is always there: a distraction. Distractions that come in many shapes and forms….it could be people, things people do, it could be TV sets, it can be people doing weird exercises (don’t let maybe that’ll be my next blog post).

Most of us who have normal jobs and families and commitments…our time in the gym is precious and cannot be divided amongst other things around us when we’re there. We are there for one reason: to train, to push our muscles, to push our limits of strength and to attain that coveted golden physique.

Distractions are everywhere…inside AND outside the gym. Each set of potential distractions carries it’s own challenges and solutions. If you would like help to work through your distractions and challenges, check out the AGR Premiere Coaching program. Each of the coaches there has worked hard, achieved the golden ratio, and maintained it. We have some insight and tricks than can help you stay focused and get on track, if necessary.

Train hard, train smart.

Jason

Filed Under: body image, exercise, Goals, Muscle Building, News, Phi Life, Sage Advice, Weight Training, Workout Design Tagged With: abundance, coaches corner, distractions, focus, gym, tv, ufc

No Training = No Muscle: Coaches’ Corner w/ Jason Haynes

July 11, 2014 by Allen Elliott

No Training = No Muscle

No Train No Gain!

Bodybuilding legend Vince Gironda used to advocate that bodybuilding was 80% nutrition and 20% training.

Granted, I am not a bodybuilder nor do I want to be one, but stay with me here.

This belief of “the Iron Guru” naturally leads to reason that without that 20% training you are not going to build any appreciative muscle.

Sorry, but that’s the way it is. You can eat all the raw fertilized eggs and Rocky Mountain oysters all you want…you can mix the eggs into as much heavy whipping cream as you want (which is what Gironda advocated for muscle gaining diets), but you are still not going to gain any muscle without training.

Fact is that muscle is not going to mystically pop up on your body without putting in time and effort in the gym.

Now here is where the “nutrition only” people will want to skin me alive: at the same time, guess what? If you don’t watch your nutrition…if you eat like crap in more amounts than you need, but you still consistently train intensely…you’re going to gain muscle.

Now sure, chances are you’re going to get fat in the process if you don’t monitor your caloric intake…but the basic fact is that we can eat whatever we want in whatever amounts and gain muscle IF WE TRAIN CONSISTENTLY!

Conversely, if you eat 99.9999% perfectly and you don’t train, you’re STILL GOING TO BE SKINNY AND WEAK! If your goal is to have an outstanding physique, you’re not going to even be remotely close to the physique that you desire if you’re not training consistently and with intensity.

On the contrary, I don’t care how perfect your diet is, without a properly designed training regimen that you follow consistently you will NOT…repeat: NOT…achieve an outstanding physique.

PERIOD.

We at Adonis Golden Ratio Systems do NOT encourage nor endorse “bulking up” (i.e. eating massive amounts of calories which only end up making one fat), but the simple fact is that fat can be dieted away. The muscle gained stays in a caloric deficit. Therefore, as I said, if one is training consistently but eating like crap, muscle is still gained.

However, focusing purely on nutrition without proper, consistent training will make you “healthier” (what is the exact definition of that anyway?), but will get you NO WHERE on your journey to a golden physique. I don’t care if you eat the most healthy (whatever that means) diet of perfectly measured protein, macro-and-micronutrients, and fruits and vegetables, but if you don’t train you’re still not going to gain one single gram of muscle whatsoever.

REMEMBER: Muscles are TORN in the gym, FED in the kitchen and BUILT in bed.

Look, I am all for eating healthy, clean, unprocessed, natural foods with no chemicals. I am still on the fence about GM (genetically modified) foods, although I am definitely more on the “No Way” side of that one. Yet, when it comes down to it, there are two parts of the equation: training for muscle mass and nutrition/diet for losing or controlling fat gain.

Takeaway: without worrying about nutrition, as long as you are training and challenging yourself, you’re still gaining muscle mass. You may look like crap shirtless…fat, bloated, whatever, but you’re still building up your muscles.

(Side note: strangely enough you don’t have to eat well to lose fat. Look at the “Convenience Store Diet”/”Twinkie Diet” experiment by Professor Mark Haub of Kansas State University as an example.)

Anyway, back on topic, about it: how many fat, bloated guys do you see in the gym? Now, taking “gear” (steroids) out of the equation because they just “change the rules of the game,” how many fat but strong guys with appreciative muscle mass (but with no “cuts”) do you see in the gym? They have muscle because they train for it. They have strength because they train for it. But they look like crap because they are paying no attention to calories in vs. calories expended.

However, if these same guys paid attention to just nutrition but didn’t go to the gym…at best they would just be skinny…or worse: skinny-fat…or just plain old fat.

Look, people say “well nutrition is 80% of the overall bodybuilding equation.” Yes, I’ll agree with that. But, that is: if you want to be a bodybuilder. And being a bodybuilder, by basic definition, means that you “build your body,” and that is done through using weights.

(Side note again: are you truly wanting to be a “bodybuilder?” Do you want to be on stage all oiled up and flexing? If not, then you might want to consider what you are doing NOW to get to your goals instead of using the methods for those who are not after the same goals as you.)

Fact is: Take away the work out…take away exercise…you can have the most perfect dialed in diet down to the .0001% of everything being perfect and correct…and you are STILL going to look like skinny, fat, or skinny- fat.

Build muscle at the gym. Lose or control fat gain through nutrition. Period.

End of story.

If you’re looking for something to help you get that golden physique, then check out the AGR systems, which has helped hundreds of men of different ages and sizes to achieve outstanding results…numerous of them jaw-dropping and awe-inspiring.

Finally, if you need some extra accountability or any extra help with your transformation, sign up for our premier coaching system. Each of our coaches (including myself) underwent their own personal transformations and have maintained their physiques for years. Frankly, even professional athletes have a coach to tell them what to do. Even the best of the best professional athletes don’t need to do it for themselves, and neither do you.

As always I welcome your comments via the AGR community forum.

Train hard. Train smart.

Jason

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

ADONIS ORIGINS: Jason Haynes | Circa 2009-2010

ADONIS LEGEND: Jason Haynes: May 2014

Filed Under: body image, Contest, diet, exercise, Fat Loss, Sage Advice Tagged With: adonis, adonis golden ratio, Becoming Golden, coaches corner, jason haynes, muscle, train, transformation

Victory or Regret?

June 27, 2014 by Allen Elliott

Victory or Regret?

Sweat drips down me as if I had just come out of a rainstorm. I write the last little tick mark on my workout sheet but the sweat blurs the ink into a blob. I look down at all the ink that is just this gelatinous-looking mess and I start to try to correct all the other marks that got smeared but they get even worse. I muse to myself how I’m going to have to let the sheet dry out due to the “sweat effect.”

Here I am trying to catch my breath while I dictate this post via a dictation app, as I feel inspired right and it seems easiest. I try to search for the words of accomplishment that are really coursing through my body and my mind right now.

I came to the gym not really wanting to be here, but I forced the body to move.

I arrived relatively uninspired.

I leave…well…I’m going to leave fully satisfied with the effort I gave today.

When I train…I just get better and better the warmer I get. The more sweat pours, the more satisfied I am and thus the harder I push beyond what I thought I could do.

What can I say? I am truly and thoroughly enjoying these new immersion tricep and chest Advanced Growth Series workouts. The density blocks that I have undergone and conquered are exactly right up my alley and what I truly enjoy doing.

You know, you really got to find a way to enjoy your workout. There are plenty of days when you don’t want to go to the gym. It’s easier to make an excuse:

“Oh it’s raining”

“ Oh it’s snowing”

“I just feel lazy”

“…but a re-run of <insert name of TV show here> is on…”

But, I’m going to tell ya: you don’t regret the work out that you accomplish. You don’t regret that workout that you forced yourself to go to and you actually do it.

You regret the workout that you skipped because you were lazy. That’s the one that we beat ourselves over.

(Side note: if this isn’t your way of thinking, then may I suggest that you might well not be as dedicated into your training as you think you are, especially if your physique isn’t at least showing some of the changes you want. You might willfully be deceiving yourself.

It might be time to have a reality check…are you dedicated to your training or are you ho-hum about it?)

LOL…If you think I need to prove what I’ve written in the blog…this was from my thursday workout.

Inspiration comes from within and I find it in the gym when I’m sitting here doing my stuff with no one else around to get in my way. After all these years it just comes naturally. It’s like a motor reflex. Many days I force myself against the inertia of laziness and procrastination and train. As the workout goes on I get more into it and work harder. As I then work harder, I push it more. The harder and harder and harder I work out the more sweat I work up, the more I push it and the more satisfaction comes.

Now, we’re not always inspired. We’re not always gung-ho to go to the gym and train, but like I said, we don’t regret the workout that we accomplished even if it was not the best effort ever. Even if it was not the most intense workout that we’ve ever accomplished we still went there we did it we did the best we could considering the situation on that particular day in that particular season of life.

The workout we do regret, however…the workout that makes us just beat ourselves up is the workout where we wussed out and didn’t even make the attempt. We let that old mindset…our old mindset rooted in failure, no ambition, and no desire to really push ourselves. We let that rule us and that hurts afterward.

And it should!

That’s what we regret.

That’s what we beat ourselves up over.

(Again, if you skip workouts for no good, real, legitimate reason and don’t feel the way I’m describing (even slightly), then it might be time to re-assess yourself. How dedicated are you to training? How badly do you want that golden physique?)

However, when we overcome that lazy flesh and we’re sitting in the gym after the work out like a victorious warrior…yeah the iron beat us again…yeah it will always beat us, and we’re ok with that.

Yet we report for duty each and every time.

Every time we come into the gym we report for battle and we’re bigger and stronger mentally and physically every single time that we don’t skip this battle.

Gentlemen, do not neglect the battle. Do not shy away and do not wuss out from the challenge of improving yourself mentally and physically. Your body will reap the rewards, and your mind will become stronger…just as your body does.

NO REGRETS! Sweat is my fat crying.

We don’t regret the work out that we forced ourselves to go to. We don’t regret that we conquered our flesh and got it done.

But, we do regret the one that we wussed out on.

If you are looking for an outstanding battle plan for attacking your physique goals, check out the AGR Systems that has helped hundreds of men to conquer themselves and achieve their best physiques.

If you are looking for brother-in-arms who have fought the battle, achieved the golden physique, and have maintained it for years, check out our Premiere Coaching Program, where experienced coaches who have successfully underwent their own transformations will help you through the minefields that come up with training and nutrition.

Train Hard, Train Smart,

Jason

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

ADONIS ORIGINS: Jason Haynes | Circa 2009-2010

ADONIS LEGEND: Jason Haynes: May 2014

Filed Under: body image, Contest, diet, exercise, Fat Loss, Featured Articles, Muscle Building, weight loss Tagged With: adonis golden ratio, Becoming Golden, coaches corner, Regret, transformation, Victory, Weight Loss

Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Coaches’ Corner w/ Jason Haynes

June 20, 2014 by Allen Elliott

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

It never fails to happen at least once a week at work. I thank God nowadays for my attitude when it happens, as I am a LOT better now than I used to be. The scenario varies slightly from week to week, but it goes something like this (and this is a specific example that really happened) :

Co-worker walks up to me to show me something on his cell phone…it’s a comic strip of two guys. One is buff and ripped and busting tail doing a workout. He is shown in obvious exertion and strain. The other guy is fat and eating a box of some kind of donuts (I would guess jelly filled) and he is wearing a totally satisfied and tranquil expression. The “punchline” to this comic, as shown in the last panel of the strip, is the donut-eating character looking smug saying “who looks happier?”

Now, the man who showed me this cartoon is overweight and obviously out of shape. He’s a great guy and I consider him a good friend, but facts are facts. I look over to him after reading the comic and he has this kind of smug look (strangely the same look as the comic character), and I reply: “the guy lifting weights is way happier.”

I hand his phone back to him and my friend nods and wordlessly walks away. Guess I didn’t play into his game, so I suppose that I was no fun.

This was the best answer I could have given, in my opinion. Sure, my ego kicks in after some retrospective time and I think better retorts that “should” have followed my initial one. Thing like: “And who do you think is happier when he looks into a mirror while shirtless? And which one avoids the mirror like the plague? Or pool parties or beaches, for that matter?”

Perhaps that would have been taken personally, so like I said, I am thankful to God that I handle things differently nowadays.

Anyway, this week I had a pair of happenings, this time both with women I work with. I’ve had several instances like this with both of them in the past, but again with slightly different topics although they all revolve around my lifestyle of training at the gym during my lunch break. Yes, it’s true that I <gasp!!> don’t go to lunch with any of my co-workers because I choose to train during lunch break and then scarf down a quick egg and cheese sandwich before getting back to work.

It is, of course, nothing personal against them but personally I like having full run of the gym (no one but me is there during lunchtime), and I would prefer to go home to my beautiful wife and daughter after work instead of going to the gym at its busiest hours.

Anyway, so I’m walking down the stairs and another co-worker sees me on the first floor as I approach the bottom. She stops and takes a long pause as I finish descending. When I am at the bottom of the stairs, this simple scene unfolds:

“Oh, off to exercise again?”

“Yup.”

We head out the double doors at my work and just before we go separate ways, she adds:

“Well, you go exercise, and I am doing my exercise of walking to lunch. See, I exercise too.”

(Which, in my opinion, is akin to telling a holocaust survivor that you understand the depths of horrors of what he has been through because you know a person of Israeli descent…as if that is common ground and puts you on equal footing with them.)

“People notice the fruit of our actions more-so than our words.” – Jason Haynes

The other one from this week was with a different woman. I had a run in with her previously when she told me that I don’t need to exercise because I “am in good shape,” to which I said “how do you think I stay this way?”

Anyway, I was walking to the parking lot and we were going the same direction so she started talking about how she knows she should exercise but she is lazy. Yes, she said that word, which kind of surprised me. At least she is honest about it.

I simply told her “That’s ok, there is nothing morally wrong with that…you just don’t want it badly enough to take action. There is nothing inherently wrong with that.” (Yes, my blog about “Wishing vs. Wanting” was ringing in my ears at this point. Ha!)

Now, if you have read to this point you may well be wondering: “What in the world is Jason rambling about? Is there a point to this?”

And rightly so, I must say, so let me get to the point:

See, simply having a lifestyle of training says a lot to people even without us saying a word to them about it. We don’t have to stand on a soapbox and preach to the masses about their need to embrace the concepts of responsible nutrition and consistent exercise. We don’t have to quote studies and journals or anything.

People notice the fruit of our actions more-so than our words. As with many things in life, our actions and our lives speak louder than any words we may have to say…ESPECIALLY if our lives (and thus, in the context of this post, physiques) are a physical representation of what we preach!

If you have the lifestyle of training and nutrition, but WITHOUT the physique to back it up (or at least an appreciative amount of work showing in your physique), you are simply pretending to be something that you are not.

Sorry, but it’s true.

Sure, you may have the head knowledge, but you lack the experiential knowledge and understanding that only comes with having done (or in the process of doing) it!

Preaching one thing but not doing it is hypocrisy, whether from a spiritual standpoint or a physical one.

Practice what you preach, fellas…and preach only what you practice, if it is beneficial and works.

And if you would like a road map to achieving the goal of an outstanding physique, check out the Adonis Golden Ratio System. It’s worked for hundreds of men of all ages and physical conditions.

If you are looking for additional accountability, assistance, and coaching from guys who actually have been in your shoes (undergoing their own transformations and maintaining their results over the course of several years), then check out our Premiere Coaching Program.

Lots of guys still talk about “living the lifestyle,” but in fact are only deceiving themselves and others. Don’t be one of them.

Train Hard, Train Smart.

Jason

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

ADONIS ORIGINS: Jason Haynes | Circa 2009-2010

ADONIS LEGEND: Jason Haynes: May 2014

Filed Under: body image, Contest, diet, exercise, Fat Loss Tagged With: actions, adonis golden ratio, Becoming Golden, coaches corner, louder, speak, than, transformation, Weight Loss, words

Simple is not Easy: Coaches’ Corner w/ Jason Haynes

June 6, 2014 by Allen Elliott

Discover why…

I don’t know if maybe I subconsciously intended to have another blog about what some people may call “semantics,” or not. Maybe on some super-ultra subconscious level my English-teacher brain is working out some frustrations about proper usage of words, but I can assure you who read this blog that this week’s topic is not driven by some conscious-minded need to correct peoples grasp of the English language.

It was not my intention to follow up last week’s blog with another similar one. At least, it wasn’t my intention when I wrote last week that I would follow–up with a similar topic this week.

Yet, here we are again, but this week’s topic is the difference between simple and easy. Again, the two topics are oftentimes used interchangeably, yet there ARE major differences between the terms.

For the context of this blog, let’s define them as:

Simple: the opposite of complex. Not complicated.

Easy: requiring minimal or no work or effort, free from pain, comfortable

As you can see, both of them do have different meanings. See, something can be easy but not simple as well as simple but not easy.

Let’ take eating, for example. The process is easy for us…find food, eat food and the body takes care of the rest. It actually requires minimal work or effort on our part and is actually designed to be a pleasant experience. We can do it whenever or wherever we choose, and we can do it with a variety of foods in a variety of situations and contexts.

However the process of digestion and all the little processes that our body has been designed with to absorb nutrients and eliminate wastes (thereby keeping us alive and fueling our body)…that is NOT simple.

Quite the opposite, it is amazingly complex. Easy, but not simple.

In a similar way, something can be simple, but not easy. I dare say that many of the things we aspire to do or be can fall into this category. For example if you want to learn a language, the process is simple: study, memorize, and practice…then rinse and repeat as many times as needed. The actual method and “path to achievement” is simple. The actual study, memorizations, and practicing however…now THAT is not easy. One must put in literally hundreds of hours (if not thousands or even tens of thousands, depending on the language) in actual book memorization, listening practice, pen-and-paper writing, and face-to-face speaking time in practice in order to achieve the goal. Yet the actual “roadmap” to how to do it is quite simple and basic: study, memorize, practice.

Over the course of several years interacting with guys on the AGR forum, I see that oftentimes there is a misunderstanding about the difference between something being simple and easy when it comes to earning an outstanding physique. Somewhere, somehow, there is some kind of great disconnect that many guys (and probably ladies too, but we don’t get many of them around the AI forums) fall into; and that is that just because the AGR System (especially when coupled with Eat-Stop-Eat and the Anything Goes Diet) is designed to be as simple as possible, that it is also easy:

…that somehow, it is magic and there is minimal effort or even willpower and determination involved in it.

This could not be further from the truth!

Look, the concepts are simple: if you want to lose fat, eat less and exercise more. If you want to gain muscle, eat a LITTLE bit more and exercise with intensity. If you want to do both, then that is simple too: eat less and exercise with intensity.

Simple? Yup. The actual “how to do it” is simple!

Easy? No way, dude.

Let me restate our working definition of “easy,” as a reminder: “requiring minimal or no work or effort, free from pain, comfortable.”

Eating less calories IS uncomfortable especially during the first week or two as your body is SO accustomed to eating as before that it actually goes into outright rebellion in order to tell you that something is missing! The following headaches, dizziness, stomach growling, mood swings, and all these “fun” kinds of things that happen as our body deals with it’s food withdrawal is certainly not comfortable or pleasant. In the meantime (and even for a time afterwards), we have to fight to not give in to those cravings and to continue forward with that plan (the simple plan of not eating as much)…and that certainly requires work and effort!

But if you don’t do these things…you won’t lose fat. Period.

Training intensely IS uncomfortable especially as we start to drip sweat and start to fatigue. As muscles start to burn with acidic agony yet we still have 7 reps to go in those oh-so-hated sets of 21’s of triple raises. (Side note: John Barban is a sicko to put sets of 21 of those into the program…I mean, a total of 63 reps for a single set for shoulders????) Yet, we push on through the agony, even as the pain continually builds up more and more until we get to through that 21’st rep. We growl in a strange mix of pain and relief as we violently shake out our arms after nearly hurling the weights through the floor.

That is CERTAINLY not “free from pain,” or “comfortable” or “requiring minimal or no work of effort,” is it?

How about those sets of 5? Pushing those last reps as we grit our teeth so hard that it feels as though we will crack our teeth like some kind of old cartoon, our arms shaking as if we are have lost total motor control, and our eyes squinting so tightly so as to see the world as a blur.

Serious effort there, fellas. It is, and should be, a far cry from easy.

But if you don’t work hard and push yourself…you won’t build muscle. Period.

See, just because John Barban designed the AGR Systems to simply give you the best results in the shortest amount of time possible, that does not mean it’s easy to do. It requires work, dedication, consistency, sacrifice, sweat, and discomfort…lots of discomfort and effort.

And whether you choose to use the Anything Goes Diet or Eat-Stop-Eat, that does not make it easy to diet. Surely, they are VERY simple to understand and to put into practice, but the actual WORK associated with DOING it is NOT easy at times.

Staying consistent in both training and diet, tweaking them, and not falling off track is simple in concept and “on paper,” but it is not EASY, which is why we have Adonis Premiere Coaching to help you with your struggles!

Don’t fall into the trap, people! Just because the concepts and the methods of training and nutrition are simple…they are NOT easy! You simply CANNOT achieve an outstanding physique by not putting in the work and the sacrifice. Yes, with AGD, ESE, and AGR we provide the simplest ways to lose fat and gain muscle quickly. Yes, these methods minimize lots of uncomfortable and simply “unfun” factors normally associated with the process of losing fat and gaining muscle.

However, YOU MUST STILL WORK HARD at it!

It IS NOT easy. I know. I’ve been there.

But once you accomplish the goal, it does become easy to maintain…easier and more enjoyable than you can possibly imagine.

I know that too…and am doing that now.

Simple is not easy. Get over it and get ‘er done.

Until next time,

Train Hard, Train Smart.

Jason

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

ADONIS ORIGINS: Jason Haynes | Circa 2009-2010

ADONIS LEGEND: Jason Haynes: May 2014

Filed Under: body image, Contest, diet, exercise, Fat Loss Tagged With: adonis golden ratio, Becoming Golden, coaches corner, Easy, Simple, transformation, Weight Loss

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