There are 2 aspects to training success. The first, and most readily observable, is the physical aspect. This involves the practical application of the principles of effective training.

This is the “how to”.

The second aspect is much harder to identify, but there is no denying its existence. This is the mental aspect of training. It includes your reasons for training, your goals, and your attitude toward, and during, your workouts.

This is the “why”, and the “want to”.

The “how to” can be acquired rather easily from many sources, and comes in the form of books, video, audio, and live seminars and classes. In statistical terms, it can be considered the dependent variable, since any workout will obviously consist of some form of a training program.

The mental aspect can be viewed as the independent variable, the “make or break” factor that can mean success for one trainee, and failure for another, who are both using the exact same training regimen.

The “why” and “want to” are not available in your bookstore. They only come from one place-inside of you.

In his book High Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way, Mike describes what I’m talking about here as “an attitude befitting a hero”. He goes on to say “Once he enters the gym, all else is forgotten and he is transformed into a valiant warrior with girded loins, ready to do battle with the weights.”

(I’m not exactly sure what girded loins are, but it sounds pretty warrior-like).

It stands to reason that somebody who chooses High Intensity Training as their “how to” should also choose a High Intensity mental attitude to go with it, if he wants to get the best possible results.

I call this high intensity mental attitude the warrior mentality.

Having a warrior mentality means viewing your workout as a challenge-not something to be feared, but something to be conquered.

A trainee with a warrior mentality does not take the easy way out by mindlessly going through the motions with a sub-maximal weight, which is tantamount to surrender. He views the workout as a battle to be won, no matter how high the cost of effort and fatigue.

He enters the gym with a feeling of aggression toward his goals, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings as he shuts out distractions and demonstrates single-minded focus and resolve to take out one target at a time-his next exercise.

But what if the trainee isn’t naturally warrior-like? Is he just fated to have sub-par workouts, and therefore sub-par results?

Cultivating a warrior mentality is a skill, and like any other skill it can be learned.

The foundation of this mentality is, as Richard Machowicz said, “believing so strongly in a cause that you are fighting for that you refuse to quit.” In the case of your training, the “cause” is your personal reason for training in the first place.

Take some time periodically to review your training goals, and why you are committed to them. What does training mean to you personally? Why is it important to you to include this activity in your life? Why is getting good results meaningful to you? Answering these types of questions will reinforce the commitment in your mind, strengthening your resolve.

The more intensely you care about the outcome of your workout, the more intensely you will train during that workout.

Visualization is another valuable technique for developing a warrior mentality. Take a few minutes before your workout to sit somewhere quiet by yourself, close your eyes, get real relaxed, and see yourself in your mind’s eye tearing through your workout, setting new personal bests on every exercise. Picture how you expect to look and feel, in the most vivid detail you can imagine. Once you open your eyes and enter the gym, strive to recreate your vision.

Listening to music or reading something that you find uplifting and motivating can also help you program yourself for a highly intense workout.

Completing successful workouts will provide you with positive memories that you can access to psyche yourself up for future workouts. As they say, “nothing succeeds like success”.

Take the steps necessary to cultivate and maintain a warrior mentality, and you will consistently win your battles in the gym and ultimately be victorious in your mission to achieve your training goals-and for that matter, any other goals you strive for in life.

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You see, my goal is to make HighIntensityNation.com the “Go-To” place on the Internet for High Intensity Training Information.

And I want that information to help YOU achieve ultimate success with your training.

But before I can do that, I need you to tell me how.

Help me help YOU.

All you need to do is fill out this little 4 question survey, which will take you like 20 seconds.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY

Thanks in advance for helping me make High Intensity Nation the best training site on the internet!

Dave Durell, MS, CCS, PTA

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“Life is for those who truly live it, and time alone does not make a full life”. That’s the quote I selected to go with my picture in my high school yearbook. I have always believed that, and try my best to always live life to the fullest, to not miss anything.

Of course, as you become an adult some repetition is inevitable, but it’s amazing how much you can squeeze into your life if you really commit yourself to doing that.

My wife’s nephew, Tony, was that way. Student, son, film-maker, brother, boyfriend, snowboarder, friend, athlete, partier, traveler,
adventurer-that guy stuffed more things into his life than most people could do in three lifetimes.

Unfortunately, Tony didn’t even get a chance to complete one lifetime. He died, tragically and unexpectedly, on July 11, 2009, at the age of 24.

Tony’s passing gave me, and all of his family and friends, a horrible, sobering reminder of just how fragile life is. It can be taken away from any one of us in an instant. None of us have any way of knowing how much time we have left on this earth.

That being the case, it is incumbent upon all of us to make the most of our lives. Take charge of your life and your future. Set challenging goals for yourself, and design your life around them.

Train your mind as well as your body. Get and keep yourself in great physical condition, so that a lack of fitness never holds you back.

Make your life a daring adventure, full of thrills, achievement and happiness.

Work hard on developing yourself to be the best you can be. Cultivate and nurture your relationships with the people who mean a lot to you.

Don’t miss anything. Don’t leave anything on the table. LIVE!

And don’t let any opportunity that comes your way pass you by.

Tony never did.

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(The location is so Top Secret, I can’t even tell you what city it’s in. If I did, the video would self-destruct in 10 seconds.)

The Pain Cave is a private training facility that is equipped and set up specifically for high intensity training workouts.

It contains some of the best strength training equipment available on the market, and the machines are arranged so that several high intensity training protocols can be utilized, such as negative only training, static holds, and especially pre-exhaustion.

Admission to The Pain Cave is by invitation only, and as of right now, you’re not invited.

However, in the future I may let you check out some new videos showing some actual high intensity training workouts, so you can get a feel for what actually goes down here.

And who knows–some day I may even invite you to check it out in person.

Blindfolded, of course.

Here’s an exclusive look inside The Pain Cave–leave a comment below and let me know what you think!

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That’s not good.

On June 4th, 2003, a different doctor performed surgery on me to remove the cancerous gland.

That is good.

Today, June 4th, 2010, will be the 7th anniversary of that surgery, and the doctor tells me cancer is still undetectable in my body.

That’s very good.

I have proclaimed June 4th “Carpe Diem Day”. I celebrate it every year, and invite you to celebrate it with me.

Carpe Diem is Latin for “seize the day”. Being diagnosed with a terminal disease, and subsequently getting it taken care of and receiving a second chance at life, gives one a new perspective on how very precious each moment of life is.

I believe that every person’s highest moral purpose is the achievement of their own happiness. Whatever you need to do to achieve yours, I encourage you to “seize the day” and do something today to move you one step closer to it.

As Lance Armstrong would say-every second counts!

Happy Carpe Diem day,

Dave Durell, MS, CCS, PTA

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The clinic was co-sponsored by Rob Taylor’s S.T.T. (Smarter Team Training), and Coach Taylor was one of the presenters.

I headed up there from Florida at 10 PM on Friday night (the only direct flight of the day-what can I tell you, I hate wasting time), arrived at 12:30, and took the shuttle over to the rental car place–where there were 25 people ahead of me in line! By the time I got to the hotel it was 2:45. Awesome. So much for sleep.

The next day, the clinic started off with a bang with Coach Alan Stein of Stronger Team showing us “Basketball Strength Training Tricks of the Trade.” Alan specializes in working with elite level basketball players, and demonstrated a unique series of exercises performed barefoot to strengthen the ankles, the most-often injured area in basketball players.

Next we were in the classroom with Rob Taylor of S.T.T. for a presentation on how to develop agility. Coach Taylor is the head Strength Coach at Loyola University in Maryland, and is well known for his work with lacrosse players (both the Mens and Womens teams at Loyola are nationally ranked). Rob had some really thought-provocking slides that really got the audience thinking in different ways about training. He also caused me to become extremely jealous of his going to Australia and New Zealand like 17 times to work with athletes there. Strangely, he has never seen a kangaroo there. Weird.

Next on the list was Rick Court, Director of Football Strength and Conditioning at the University of Toledo. His topic was how to add competition to the strength and conditioning program. His presentation went into great detail, and he had plenty of great videos of his team in action to illustrate his point. Coach Court also gave the most “spirited” presentation of the day–let’s just say nobody fell asleep during his talk.

All the speakers at this clinic were GREAT, but the next classroom presentation was a real highlight for me. That’s when Mike Gittleson of Rogers Athletic spoke to us about strength training-where it’s been, where it is, and where it’s going. In case you don’t know, Mike was the head Strength and Conditioning Coach at the University of Michigan for 30 years (one of the first ever in the entire country); for many, many years has been a zealous advocate of High Intensity Training; and is the only guy I’ve ever met who has a neck machine next to the couch in his living room.

The thrust of Coach Gittleson’s presentation revolved around the issue of concussions in sports, and the value of strengthening the neck musculature to help reduce the incidence and severity of them. He outlined a comprehensive strengthening program involving the capital muscles, which move the head without significant cervical spine movement; the cervical (neck) muscles, and the upper and middle traps. Fascinating stuff.

After lunch, we headed down to the indoor soccer field (watch the video to check out the facility), where South Florida Strength Coach Ron McKeefery to us to speed school. Coach McKeefery outlined his philosophy on speed development, then led us through some of the exact drills and techniques he uses with his players.

Next, we learned some corrective exercises and stretching techniques from our host ,Jim Kielbaso, of Total Performance. Jim taught us how to recognize deviations in proper body positioning and alignment during athletic movements, and how to isolate and correct them.

Then Oakland University Hockey Coach Gordie Schaeffler treated us to a demonstration of the skating treadmill, which has to be seen to be believed. Hockey players can actually practice skating and stick handling on this thing with ice skates on. Wild stuff.

The day concluded back on the field with Nick Wilson, the Strength Coach for the newly formed University of Detroit Lacrosse team going through some of the training techniques he uses with his players, followed by Rob Taylor going through some team drills designed to build chemistry between the athletes while also having some fun.

In addition to taking in the great content provided by the speakers, I was able to talk to a few High Intensity Nation readers at the clinic, which was a real treat for me. Thanks guys!

All-in-all it was a great time-learning a lot, catching up with old friends, and making some new ones.

Here’s a quick video of my trip, including a guided tour of Total Performance Training Center:

P.S. Smarter Team Training will be producing a video of the clinic soon, I will let you guys know when and where it’s available.

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Here’s the lineup of speakers:

• Jim Kielbaso, Director of Total Performance at Total Sports Complex, Wixom, MI
• Robert Taylor, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Loyola College, MD
• Rick Court, Director of Football Strength and Conditioning, University of Toledo
• Ron McKeefery, Asst. AD/Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, University of South Florida
• Mike Gittleson, former head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the University of Michigan (and a H.I.T. legend!)
• Alan Stein, Strength and Conditioning Coach specializing in Elite Level Basketball
• Gordie Schaeffler, Head Hockey Trainer-Oakland Assistant Hockey Coach
• Nick Wilson, Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach, University of Detroit-Mercy

Whew! What a lineup! I am looking forward to seeing some old friends, meeting some new ones, and soaking up tons of training knowledge to share with the Nation.  Hopefully I will see some of you there!

Speaking of Strength and Conditioning-here’s a Classic Article Re-Post of an article I wrote that was originally published in the old Hammer Strength publication, The Hard Training Newsletter. In it I discuss the differences between strength training and skill training. I hope you enjoy it.

P.S. I’ll give you an update on how the clinic went once it’s over-hopefully I’ll be able to shoot a little video too

What Is IT?

by Dave Durell, MS, CCS, PTA

Many qualities, both physical and mental, go into the making of a successful athlete. Two of the most important physical qualities are strength and skill. Since all sports require physical movement, and skeletal muscles produce movement, it follows logically that increasing muscular strength will allow the athlete to more easily perform the movements required in his or her sport. Of course, the strongest athlete is not always the best athlete; a high degree of sport-specific skill is also required. It is generally accepted that resistance training will increase muscular strength. But what about skill? Will weight room activities specifically enhance certain sports skills? How can strength and skill be trained for most efficiently? Can they be combined or must they be trained for separately? What is the most effective way to maximally enhance both? What constitutes proper strength training and how, if at all, does that differ from proper skill training? This article will address, and attempt to provide some answers to these questions.

Strength is defined as “the ability of the musculoskeletal system to produce force” (1). In order to improve that ability most productively, training must involve uniform, efficient muscular loading.

Uniform – Resistance should be applied as equally as possible throughout a full range of motion. A controlled speed of movement should be utilized; the weight should be moved by muscular force alone, eliminating as much momentum as possible. Exercises which apply heavy resistance at one point and little or no resistance at another point in the range of motion are inferior in this regard. This can occur if strict form is forsaken or if an explosive style of lifting is employed.

Efficient – The training program should be designed to achieve the highest degree of stimulation in the shortest possible time. High Intensity Training, where each set is carried to a point of extreme muscular fatigue, satisfies this criterion. Training in this fashion will necessarily limit the duration of the workout, thus maximizing efficiency. In addition, it is important to maintain proper form to efficiently overload the target musculature.

Muscular Loading – This is the essence of strength training. A load of sufficient magnitude to stimulate a strength increase must be applied. The trainee should strive to work to the limit of his or her existing capacity on each set and regularly attempt the momentarily impossible. If you are capable of performing 10 reps with a certain weight in a certain exercise, but you always stop at 9 reps, and you never attempt an 11th rep, why would you ever get stronger?

To review, proper strength training means loading the target musculature uniformly throughout the range of motion while maintaining strict form with a high level of intensity.

An athletic skill is a movement or series of movements, which produces a specific athletic outcome. The key word in the previous sentence is “specific”. For any sports skill performed, a unique neuromuscular pathway is created which is specific for that skill alone. In order to most effectively reinforce that pattern, the skill must be practiced, as it will ultimately be executed in game situations. Thus, the practice of sports skills should be performed using the same equipment, on the same playing surface, in the same situation, as they will occur in the game, while still maintaining practicality and safety. Activities which merely resemble the specific sports skill require unique neuromuscular pathways of their own; therefore, the performance of such activities is not an efficient means of reinforcing the specific neuromuscular pattern required for the sports skill in question.

To review, proper skill training means practicing a movement, or series of movements, which produces a specific athletic outcome as it will be executed in game situations.

In light of the information presented above, it is apparent that certain weightroom activities currently in vogue do not fit within the parameters of either proper strength training or proper skill training. Such activities most commonly include movements that are performed in an explosive fashion using additional resistance; including, but not limited to, power cleans, Olympic lifts and various plyometric drills using medicine balls. These types of activities typically utilize the forces of acceleration and momentum to propel the resistance, negating the opportunity for uniform, efficient muscular loading. This fact disqualifies these activities as proper strength training. With regard to proper skill training, remember that the specific skill must be practiced exactly as it will be used in competition. Thus, the only athletes for whom these types of activities can be considered proper skill training are competitive weightlifters or competitive medicine ball throwers.

This brings us to the key questions to consider:

1) If it’s not proper strength training, and it’s not proper skill training – What Is It?

2) More importantly – Why Do It? 

The answers to these questions will determine which activities should, or should not, be included in the training program.

Time is a limited resource; as such, it must be invested wisely. Don’t waste your’s by engaging in unproductive training methods. Use proper strength training to increase the ability to produce muscular force. Use proper skill training to perfect the movements used in competition. Avoid activities which don’t fit within the parameters of either category. Doing so will help the athlete most efficiently scale the heights and reach the peak of his or her athletic potential.

Leave a comment below to let me know what you think of this article.

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Talk soon,

Dave

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Since I just live across Tampa Bay from the school (I actually took my last class for my Master’s Degree there), and 2 friends of mine were speaking, I decided to take a road trip and head over there.

Ron McKeefery, Head Strength Coach at USF, was speaking, as well as NFL veteran, and my former boss, Mark Asanovich.

Ron and I, as well as Clinic Coordinator Aaron Komarek, all worked together under Mark for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2001-2002.

Of course, I couldn’t do any filming during the speakers’ presentations (they will be offering a DVD for sale soon-I will keep you posted), but suffice to say that Mark polarized the audience of strength coaches, football coaches and personal trainers with his High Intensity approach to football strength and conditioning-half loved it and learned from it, half thought he was nuts for not including “ballistic” training in his program.

The title of his talk was “The 5 P’s of Strength Training”.

At the risk of copyright infringement (anything for you guys), the 5 P’s were:

Prudent
Productive
Practical
Purposeful
Player Friendly

I’ve probably heard that one a dozen times over the years-but solid advice never gets old.

Here’s a little video of my road trip-including a guided tour of the SERIOUS USF Weightroom:

P.S.–Another road trip coming next month! 2010 Strength and Conditioning/Athletic Development Michigan Clinic, featuring my boy Jim “The Human Flag” Kielbaso, and legendary H.I.T. strength coach Mike Gittleson. If you’re going, make sure you find me and say hello…if you’re not going, you should be.

P.P.S.–Big announcement coming later this week!

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What will become of the High Intensity Nation?

Can anyone–or anything–ever bring him back?

Watch this to learn the truth:

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