EverStrongSF and Training to Failure

Posted by abraham.williams@gmail.com on in General

At EverStrongSF, we’ve been enjoying the Huberman Lab podcast. The 6 part series with Dr. Andy Galpin has been fantastic to listen to. Of course we paid attention to all of them, but the cast on building strength and muscle was our favorite.

Humans can build strength and muscle in the later years of life which is great news on its own, but the best part is how much it improves one’s life or health span. Muscle and strength are the strongest predictors of a healthy and mobile life.

At EverStrongSF, we teach people to train to failure and we train less frequently than 3 to 5 times a week. We aren’t doing 3 to 5 times a week, 3 to 5 exercises, 3 to 5 sets and 3 to 5 reps. We do a time under tension protocol where we pack all the muscle fiber types into one set, moving slowly until you can’t move any more. We do this at a minimum of once a week. Twice a week is maximum we’ll do with our protocol because it is quite intense. Recovery is critical here.

In the podcast, Dr. Andy Galpin, talks about how important it is to get close to failure and how people are unable to really reach it. Often when training in the gym, people will stop an exercise too soon. In the podcast they talk about a tool called RPE, or Rate of Perceived Exertion.

This is a handy tool to help people understand how close they get to momentary muscular failure or MMF. It’s a pretty clear chart one can use to understand how hard training is affecting an individual. Basically, a 10 means you can’t do another repetition or weight. 9 means you could have one 1 more. Training to at least 8 is where you want to be develop strength and muscle.

Mike Tuchscherer's Rating of RPE

At EverStrongSF, we also use velocity also which means when a person’s velocity in the exercise has slowed down. We watch people very closely here and coach them to continue to move with good form. Form can slip in this phase and people will want to give up. BUT! This is the what the whole exercise is for really…to get to this point. This is where the body is being forced to handle maximum load and where the body will respond with repair and ultimately strength.

So, if you are training on your own and your goal is strength and muscle for life, then definitely use RPE. If you’d like to work with experienced trainers to help you do this, check out EverStrongSF. We got your number.

EverStrongSF is so good

Posted by abraham.williams@gmail.com on in Health

Hey, I opened this place in 2017 with Owen Dockham and Patrick Ycaro. It’s been wonderful and had plenty of hard parts. Pandemic, PPP, EIDL, bunch of crap, etc. Lots of stuff happened.

Owen’s on his own journey now living his best life. Awesome. Me, too. At EverStrongSF, we are NOT going to grow it. Growing it sucks. Keeping it really good with amazing people is so much better. These wondrous beings are helping to make it wonderful. We fuck up sometimes, but basically, it’s really good now.

YOUR BODY IS THE MOST AMAZING GIFT YOU WILL EVER RECEIVE. WE TREAT IT LIKE THAT.

LOOK AT IT IF YOU WANT

Hello Again

Posted by abraham.williams@gmail.com on in General

I haven’t written in a long time. It’s not really that important that I write. There’s always a chance though that someone might find a spark. I think that’s why I write. I found my spark from other people. I think that’s how it happens.

A lot has changed for me. So much. I’m grateful. I’m thankful. This world really is a beautiful place. It really is a heaven I think. BUT, it can also be hell. Hades. It really can be. Things can get so hard. Cancer. Death. Debt. Loss. All of it. There is ugliness in the world. People can be treated so ugly that they can’t come back from it. Wait? Is that even true? I don’t know.

BUT, there really is a beauty. We really have no idea how beautiful things really are. I want to be able to show people how beautiful it is to have a body and be in the world, to be able to feel and experience. I am very unsure how to do that, but it is something that I am so grateful for. I don’t know what else to say.

Oh, and for the entrepreneur’s out there. Here’s an idea someone might also think should exist.

Black Lives Matter to me

Posted by abraham.williams@gmail.com on in General

I’m working on my voice and actions for racial equality. I have been a silent white. Inside myself I haven’t been silent but externally I don’t show it. I am changing that. I’m not a social media person. I don’t care for it. I prefer person to person interactions but this is a place where I can say to people who might want my help in this to ask me for it. To know that I’m available to this help. I don’t want to be a racist. Please tell me if I am being racist. I’m going to try some things. I’ll probably fuck up, but I will keep trying. I desperately want a world where we have equality. Where people, Black people, can feel safe. I have read many writings on this subject, but the first few minutes of this drove it home hard for me in today’s time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62opaXeyWZY

I knew growing up knowing that my black friends had to be cleaner than me, better behaved than me and were treated worse than me. A friend said to me of my black friend and I, “You can come into the yard, but he can’t. My dad says no [awful term] allowed in our yard.” If we got caught doing something, I was let off while my black friend had it worse. I wish the color of skin didn’t matter. I wish it so much.

When Van Jones said that there’s nothing left he can tell his sons to do to NOT DIE in a police interaction…I heard it. I heard it hard.

High-Intensity Slow Motion Resistance Training is Mindfulness Meditation

Posted by abraham.williams@gmail.com on in General

One major benefit of exercising is its benefit on the mind. Many studies point to exercise assisting with mood and cognitive benefits.

Statistics aside, at EverStrongSF and Live Oak Strength & Nutrition, we can see the effect on the mind first hand every day when people come to train. People come in with many things on their mind…parking, work, travel, or some frazzled interaction with another person.

When people come in, we reset them and get them focused on their body.

“How did you feel after the last workout?”

“How do you feel right now?”

“Are you ready to train? Let’s get in the zone.”

It’s a body check in and we ask them to feel it and recognize it. Then, we get them into the zone. They know it’s an intense focusing session and often make the switch with ease.

Once in the training, people either watch the output on the screen to focus on ft/lbs of torque they are generating on the ARX or close their eyes and listen for the weights to gently touch the stack as they keep continual tension and breathe. They focus intensely on their form and we give quiet one word clues, “slower”, “hold”, “turn”, “breathe”.

Doing resistance training where you focus on the specific movement and the muscles involved is a large departure from the bouncing around from thing to thing in the outside world. When combined with the deep breathing to prevent blood pressure buildup, provide the muscles with oxygen to convert energy into contractions and to hyper-oxygenate the blood, it is a huge reset.

Most people breathe shallow most of the day. We get people deep breathing for 15-20 minutes.

When trainees leave, their muscles emptied and tingling. Their mind is reset from having been singularly focused and concentrated on one thing for 20 minutes. 

This training is a guided body meditation where the minimal effective dose of exercise is combined at the same time.  Learn more about it here: www.everstrongsf.com