Luka’s Back! Bigger, Faster, Stronger…and Better with Vigor Ground Fitness

I was going to write a crazy headline that would pull you into this post.But I’m just going to keep it real and stay away from all of that.The truth is I’m just happy to be back, writing and sharing everything I know about fitness and performance, nutrition, mindset; or should I say everything I learn in this world through education, studying books, DVD’s courses, attending seminars, masterminds, coaching or anything else that expands my horizons in some way.Then, most importantly, doing it myself and applying the knowledge in the real world and seeing what really works and what doesn’t.Don’t be surprised to see thoughts and opinions on a wide variety of subjects, including life. Anything that I feel will make your life better.So rather than writing a crazy headline, I just wanted to let you know I’m back ready to spill out everything I know and do, both at Vigor Ground Fitness and Performance with our hundreds of clients, as well as my own training and lifestyle.I’ll keep this part short, but the reason I haven’t been writing has been, well, just falling off.
When the business grew and we moved into a new facility there was so much craziness that I put writing on the backburner and just like with anything else, good and bad habits don’t take long to develop. So while putting in an insane amount of work to get Vigor Ground to where it is I let some things slide and created a bad habit of not staying on top of posting and writing articles.I’m actually real upset because if I had kept the habit of writing the “I didn’t have time” excuse wouldn’t even come up.Lesson: create great habits so they are a subconscious part of what you do daily, weekly and monthly!Create habits that will be in your subconscious mind...

Another thing - stop making excuses and make shit happen!___________________________________________________________________________A.D.D. CaptionSince this article/post was being written while I had to knock out a Saturday full body training session, the writing had to be put on hold because nothing interrupts my training sessions. Just saying.Because of the interruption you get to see what my training session was, as well as a peak into the actual training through some videos.If you could care less, then skip past it (but do you really want to?)Saturday – Full BodySMFR: Foam rolling, lacrosse ball and the stick (emphasis: quads, IT Band/TFL, adductors, glute medius, piriformis, RF, lats, “everything” on posterior shoulder)Stretching: Psoas, Rectus Femoris, Glutes, Quads, Hip Internal Rotators, Thomas Test on Massage Table)NOTE: I spend “extra” time on foam rolling and corrective stretches because of a very serious back injury about 18 months ago that messed me up bad. I’m back full throttle and will talk about how I came back and what I do now to stay strong and be 100% out of pain.Dynamic Warm Ups (this goes back to back and flows really fast): Thoracic Extension/ Pec Minor mobilization x 10/side, Wall Slides x 10, RF mobilization x 10/side, Glute Bridges w/ Band Around Knees x 15Squat to Stand x 10, High Knee Pull + Drop Lunge to Instep + Hamstring Stretch x 5/side, Lateral Moving Lunge + Slide-over x 5/side, Inchworm w/Glute Stretch (left and right) x 5, Archer Side Squats x 5/side, Spiderman Lunge Position + Reach w/ Thoracic Extension x 10/sideHigh Knees, Butt Kicks, Skips A/B, Carioca Sequence, Pogo Jumps, etc. x down/back on turf (30-40 yards/each)This may seem long but it gets knocked out in around 15-20 minutes. This works well for me as I know the training session after will be more quality and I feel better about not having any issues popping up.1A). Tire Flips w/ Band (the band is more for tension purposes vs. resistance) 4 x 6
1B). Band Resisted Broad Jumps 4 x 5NOTE: I do well with tire flips because its not a straight pull like a deadlift but rather has a more horizontal component to it which means I can train strength and power without compromising the low back as much ---> form is crucial off course)2A). Barbell Jerk 4 x 5
2B). Medicine Ball Explosive Vertical Throws 4 x 5 (measure height, keep power output high)3A). Double KB Clean and Squat 3 x 10
3B). Rope Climbs w/Weighted Vest (25 lbs) 3 x 8
3C). Chin Up/Pull Up 3 x positive failureUpper Back Muscle Builder Superset.4). Strongman/Bodyweight Circuit – 3 Rounds
Farmers Walks x 40-50 yards
MB Push Up Complex (shoulder touch x 5/side, alternating x 10, triceps on ball x
5, explosive x 5)
Sled Pull (Forward, Backward with Static Row) x 80 yards (twice down/back)
Bear Crawls x 40 yards
Rope Slams + Presses x 20/eachHere is one round of the circuit...

After that training session there was quite a bit of post training “cool-down”, which looked like not much moving around and just laying there.Once I kind of recovered, I got some assistance from my favorite Guru energy drink and am going right back to writing(Let me know if you like the A.D.D. caption...if you don’t like I’ll keep doing it anyway but at least I’ll know how you feel)___________________________________________________________________________As you can see, I’m going to be a little all over the place (or a lot).At least you’ll better understand how my mind works.So, no more excuses with writing, I’m back on track spreading information that I hope helps you improve your training and life.What’s up with Vigor Ground?Vigor Ground Fitness and Performance is going strong and growing and we have created a core team that is truly dedicated to becoming better on a daily basis. You may ask better at what?Better at anything that will help our clients (family) get a better training results, lifestyle improvement, and more happiness. Ultimately anything that will improve their lives. This can be training, rehab, nutrition, psychology and everything in between. But beyond the knowledge walking the talk and doing everything them-selves is a must. Becoming better people.One of our core values is constant never ending improvement (Kaizen) and there is no better way to prove that then to live it and have everyone that believes and invests in you, see it as well. Inspiring people, believing and appreciating them is the most powerful thing we can do for someone else!Every day I wake up I work on improving myself so that I can lead my team to do the same. It’s not just a part of my “schedule”; it’s my purpose.I put in a pretty crazy amount of time into learning and although I won’t list every single thing I did this past month on that end, I’ve been asked a lot what I read, which DVD’s I watch and what seminars I attend, so here’s what’s on my plate and what I’ve gone through in the past 6 weeks:

• Easy Strength: Dan John and Pavel
• Movement: Gray Cook (re-reading for 3rd time)
• Functional Stability Training DVD’s: Eric Cressey and Mike Reinold
• Optimal Shoulder Performance DVD’s: Eric Cressey and Mike Reinold (2nd time)
• Hardcore DVD/Manual: James Smith and Joe Defranco
• Delta Fit: BJ Gaddour (a lot of great ideas for our boot camps)
• Writing for Fitness: Robert Fitzgerald
• How to Get Published - Writing Domination in the Fitness Industry: John Romaniello and Adam Bornstein
• RKC Re-Certification
• Perform Better Training Summit - Long Beach
• Primal Move Workshop
• The Compound Effect: Darren Hardy
• The How of Happiness: Sonja Lyubomirsky
• The Talent Code: Daniel Coyle
• Warrior: The Path to Sovereignty
• The Charge: Brendon Burchard
• What Do You Want To Do Before You Die: Buried Life crew
• The 50th Law: Robert Greene and 50 Cent
• Change Anything - The Science of Personal Success: Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny…
• The Naked Presenter: Garr Reynolds

A lot of material covered, no complaints here.My mentality is like Camron’s lyrics “God damn it man I’m hungry and I just ate” (and I’m not talking about food).Lesson: whenever you think you have done enough or are good enough, check yourself! To be great you have to constantly grow through educating yourself, walking the talk and becoming a better YOU daily, for yourself, your family and the people you serve. Are you honestly doing that?You will see and hear everything that is going on at Vigor Ground here on the blog, as well as some updates on things going on at our gyms in Slovenia (yes, we are opening new locations in Slovenia and the development of Vigor is getting taken to a whole new level)...we even have our own supplement line out - Vigor Fuel!

One of the future visions is to start producing it in the U.S. because like everything else Vigor, a ton of time and energy has gone into making it the best product that will benefit our clients’ results.A lot is going on but you’ll hear all about it as time goes by and some things that are just ideas and dreams become reality.Last thing I wanted to touch on was regarding my own training and nutrition. I have been getting a lot of e-mails asking me how my training is going, what I do on the daily, how I eat, recovery strategies, supplements, and everything in between.I’m going to back track a little so that some things make more sense.Some of you may know I had a very serious back injury around a 18 months ago consisting of multiple herniated discs, bulges, trapped nerves and a bunch of other crappy things. My leg went numb, couldn’t stand or walk, lost inches of muscle within weeks, had no reflex throughout the whole leg, insane pain. Wasn’t looking good.Since then I rehabbed through hard work, physical therapy, ART (Active Release Therapy), Graston, MAT (Muscle Activation Technique), Chiropractic, acupuncture. Basically I tried everything and anything and learned through trial and error what helped me and got me better and I scratched the rest (it’s important to note that certain things helped me at certain points in time, while others helped all the time and still help, never discard anything until you have made an educated decision, tried it and experienced some feedback).Lesson: If you’re not assessing you’re guessing! This goes for ANYTHING in life: training, nutrition, rehab, relationships, business, life, etc.Regardless of what anyone says, if something works for you, why would you change it? You can (and should) continue to search for things that will improve any of the above but don’t throw out what works because someone said “it shouldn’t based on ____________ (insert whatever it may be)”Today, I’m pretty much 100% pain free and although I do have to be more aware of what I’m doing, how I’m training, along with staying on top of my recovery strategies, it’s a far way away from discussing back surgery.Since I like bullet points, I’m going to put down some thoughts about my training and what I’ve been doing lately; training, nutrition, recovery and lifestyle strategies. Yes, this will be random so deal with it:* “The goal is to keep the goal the goal” – Dan John. I’ve realized that it’s much easier to know how to train once you’ve really figured out what you want and what is important to you. I’m competitive and still train hard and shoot for competitive performance goals, but not in exchange for raising the risk of injury. This really changed my training. Sometimes part of the goal is just to have fun with training. Don’t be scared to throw in random workouts and fun stuff just because you feel like it. It’s not that serious! And when you have fun you’ll want to train with more enthusiasm.* “Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is essentially your own.”– Bruce Lee. Are you using one method of training or tool too much? An example would be that you love Olympic lifting so you put the lifts into your program regardless of the goal. I did that with a lot of power lifts until I got injured, after which I re-assessed the situation (which I should have done earlier). The truth is sometimes the risk to benefit ratio for using certain exercises when you have had injuries or you have serious postural issues just doesn’t make sense. For instance:

• Heavy BB Deadlift from floor (disc herniations, bulges, etc.)
• BB Snatches, Cleans, Overhead Presses (rotator cuff, serious impingements, etc.)
• Regular Lunge Variations (Worn out knee cartilage)

I’m not saying using those exercises is wrong, I’m saying assess the situation and be honest in whether those are the best exercises for you given your situation and your goals. Most of the time you’ll find ego gets in the way and stops you from being able to achieve the best results with lower risk.Trying to impose a methodology into training can sometimes be like trying to get a round peg through a square hole...* Because of my injuries the exercise selection I use for my lower body training has changed quite a bit. I have to be weary about the loads on my low back as the breaking point is much lower than it used was before the injuries; regardless of form, quality of reps, etc. So to keep the muscle mass on the legs (as well as build it) I do a lot more single leg training as well as other exercises that create a lot of tension on the legs but keep the loads on the back lower.Some examples would be:

• Lunge Variations
• Glute Ham Raises
• Bulgarian Split Squats
• Single Leg Deadlift Variations
• KB Swing Variations
• Good Morning Combo’s

• KB Front Squats
• Reverse Hyper
• Loaded Glute Bridges and Elevated Hip Thrusts (and their variations)

• Romanian Deadlifts
• Prowler and Sled Variations (Heavy)
• Back Extensions
• Heavy Tire Flips ---> this is much less stressful on the back when done with proper technique, as the vector of the push is a 45-degree angle with much less low back load!

The great thing is there are many, many variations of each and every one of the above exercises, either regressing or progressing them. I have been able to build the muscle mass in my legs up and beyond what it was pr-injury.* Single leg strength transfers over to double leg strength much better than the other way around!* When adding a lot of single leg training into your programs, you’ll need to increase the amount of soft tissue work you do on glute-medius, adductors, abductors; hip stabilizers in general. They work much more and get triggered up a lot easier.More single-leg training? More soft tissue work!

* When doing single leg training I keep the rep ranges mostly in the 5-12 range. A big shift for me as I would do quite a lot of 1-4 rep range training above 85% of 1RM. I don’t see as much benefit using those rep ranges for single-leg work because we can’t use as much load.* I still do dynamic effort training with the deadlift and squat. It’s great for speed and power and the loads on the low back don’t compromise the back nearly as much especially since I’m using around 50% to 65% of 1RM. I will use chains and bands as well.

* Being able to get back to doing more power, speed and plyometric training has been great and I’m feeling like my explosiveness and speed is coming back to where it was. Because I don’t go heavy with the main bilateral power lifts for the lower body, I have started adding in power, speed and plyo work at the beginning of every training session (after warm ups of course). I’m also a fan of contrast training which is why we superset a lot of the exercises with jumps, bounds, throws, slams, etc.

I’ve also been playing around with single leg jumping variations, which have been great for improving my vertical.

* I recover better with three hard strength-training sessions a week; lower body, upper body and full body. With three full body sessions I wasn’t recovering well enough. I add two metabolic training sessions a week along with a bunch of skill training in the form of my hobbies (martial arts).* I find that one of the biggest mistakes people that are serious about training make when it comes to achieving results, is that they keep manipulating the training variables without paying attention to the RECOVERY. Recovery comes in the form of nutrition, soft tissue therapies, de-load training, activities, sleep, relaxation/de-stressing (this is crucial and missed on the most!)* Everyone has something that is the hardest for him or her to conquer. For me it was recovery. Mostly because I’m A-Type and train hard and work hard and am wired so I don’t sleep enough. The way I addressed that was by scheduling things into my week where I couldn’t get out of it because of having an accountability partner or because I committed financially. So one by one I added the following recovery strategies (some may seem like they are not recovery strategies but they were crucial in bringing stress levels down so they fall into that category):

1. Sunday night Russian Bath House – Banya 5, 3 hours of switching between very hot sauna, cold plunge pool for 3-4 minutes and relaxing and reading in quiet room for 15 - 20 minutes. This is honestly one of the best things I’ve done for my recovery. I sleep deeper than any other day of the week and clear my mind completely, not to mention my body recovers from training much, much faster. This is the place I go to in downtown Seattle:
   

1. Thursday morning I do one of two things. A 30-minute walk in the park or a hike to one of the surrounding trails. I’m a big fan of nature and hiking as my family always did tons of it when I was growing up. Even though this is an activity I consider it recovery, as it’s the morning after a hard strength training session and it will get the blood flowing, I’ll do mobility and primal move at the top and it definitely a stress releaser.
2. Tuesday mornings and Friday afternoons I do martial arts, from jiu-jitsu, muay-thai to stick/knife fighting. This is pretty active but ends up being more of a recovery training session from an intensity standpoint. I definitely list this here because it is one of the best stress relievers and makes me think about the skill at hand, completely taking my mind off anything else I need to do for the day or week. I’ve also been adding a couple of hours of sleep on the days I do martial arts. Can’t figure out the connection, but who cares, it works.
3. I take a couple of hours out on Fridays to just draw whatever I feel like. I love drawing and didn’t do it for a while even though I lose myself in it and find it extremely relaxing.
4. Every night, taking at least 20 minutes between when I get done working or reading and write out things I need to do the next day after which I sit in silence and visualize in my “theater of the mind” (refer to Psycho Cybernetics). It is basically visualizing in detail the things I want to happen in different areas of my life. I have been pretty consistent but could definitely improve on this and make it a habit.
5. Doing at least 10 minutes a day of soft tissue, stretching, mobility and activation work by itself. Not before training, not after training. At some other time where that is the only thing I do. My goal is to do it every day of the week, which would add an hour over the span of the week.

These are the strategies that I have been able to implement that have not only helped my recovery and stress levels but in turn improved my training results as well. The key is adding only one at a time!

Lesson: When changing habits, adding one at a time is the best way to go. Research has proven that success rates significantly drops as soon as we try to change more than one habit (to the extent that 2 habits at a time only has a 30% or so success rate while 3 or more habits only has around 8% compared to over 80% when we’re trying to change just one habit at a time). What was more important than the research is my own findings, which 100% determined that I need to change one thing at a time. Once I could do it for 2 weeks without thinking about it too much, I’d add the next habit change.<* One day a week I hit the stairs and do a lot of jumps and sprints. You should do it, too! I’m not even going to add any geeky science stuff to this. Just do it and thank me later!The camera is fine; it's just the speed.

* I don’t care how much thoracic mobility you’re doing, do more of it. You shoulders will thank you, as well as everything else up and down the kinetic chain. I’ll add a post on some of my favorite thoracic mobility drills along with videos in the next week. In the meantime here is a thoracic mobility drill we use a lot and is demonstrated by Eric Cressey (who you should follow by the way!)

* How you breathe does matter! If you breathe inefficiently it will lead to soft tissue restrictions, tension and bad posture. But rather than getting so in detail that it discourages people from wanting to get better at it, add a drill that will help them understand breathing through the belly. You can add lateral breathing drills as they progress. A great way to improve breathing and your bracing while you lift is to imagine you’re sucking in air through a straw. You’ll have more tension in the core, which will lead to better stability and better lifts.If you want to get more in depth and geeky, you can check out some really smart people talk about it: Charlie Weingroff, PavelKolar, Craig Liebenson, Gray Cook, etc. And you can check into work from DNS (Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization) and PRI (Performance Restoration Institute)* If you want to improve your mobility then you should listen to Kelly Starrett and check out www.mobilitywod.com , there’s a ton of great info that you can implement right away. Love the joint distraction techniques with the bands as they have helped a ton with de-loading.* My conditioning consists of stairs, hill sprints and metabolic conditioning circuits. Some are all bodyweight, while some are pretty loaded. I give myself one day a week where I pick and choose my conditioning with whatever I feel like. It’s the fun day (or it turns out to be pretty grueling sometimes if I’m having a shitty day).

* I’ll do a more detailed post about my nutrition, as that has been a question that has been coming up a lot. I’ve been doing intermittent fasting for the last 8 months and it has really become a lifestyle rather than something I’m just trying out. Beyond all the benefits from this type of nutrition, it just really fits my lifestyle (I think this is key when choosing your nutritional guidelines). More specifically I follow the Renegade DietSince my goal is putting on muscle slowly while staying lean, I’m fasting anywhere from 13-16 hours depending on my type of training session or whether I have a day off. I also do a day where I do not have a under-eating and over-eating phase but rather just fast then have a couple of cheat meals (I keep this schedule on a Saturday). For more details stay posted as I will have a whole post about this.The leanest and biggest I’ve been consistently.

I just realized I wrote quite a lot and it’s not even the beginning of all I have to say.But that’s a good thing. I’ve been in the trenches this whole time and haven’t been sharing all the information I have learned and implemented, which means there is a lot of catching up to do.I wanted to take the first post and just spill out what I have been doing and hopefully presenting some useful information that you can apply.It may not have been as organized as I would like it but like most things in life, when you want to get things done you just have to get started and re-route along the way and make things better. I will continue to deliver the best that I can, that I promise you!And since I love motivational videos, I decided to make one of my own. You have to check this out. Lead from the front!

The Pack - Memento Mori from The Pack Fitness Business on Vimeo.Memento Mori...remember you only live once so give it everything you’ve got!