The Power of Fear

It is now roughly 15 weeks since I ruptured my Achilles tendon.  A few weeks back I was given a clean bill of health to return to training in earnest with the caveat that if it hurt my Achilles, don’t do it.

As I have reintroduced exercises I have noted pulling sensations, not necessarily pain (although sometimes they are), but an uncomfortable feeling that reminds me of what I had done and what could happen.  These feelings bring on a palatable fear and have made me realize its (fear’s) power. 

Enter ego.  The other day I decided to try some heavy squat cleans.  I worked up to 165 lbs squat clean and guess what, it didn’t hurt!  What happened was I didn’t want to appear weak in front of my peers so the fear component was replaced by pride and I just did it.  This brought about another epiphany.  I realized that when I think about my injury I notice it, even when not training, but it doesn’t hurt when I am not focused on it.

I now have newfound confidence and a better understanding of the power of the mind.  How does that famous quote go?  “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.”  Yes, don’t panic, I realize a little fear is a healthy thing when rehabbing injuries, but I now also know that I must master my fear and use my mind to overcome its inhibition in order to achieve my goals.

Kate Rawlings is a high level competitive CrossFit Games athlete. With strength and endurance to spare, she is an excellent example of what the CrossFit lifestyle can do for you.

It’s official!  I’m doing the burpee mile for the Wounded Warriors Project in June.  I am also working on my other charity plans this week.  One such endeavor will be raising money for the Navy SEAL Foundation by doing all 11 Hero WODs (named after Naval Special Warfare personnel) in 24 hours or less.

My strength training has been going very well.  My strength is increasing quickly and I am on track to break my squat and deadlift PRs in just a few weeks. I highly recommend adding glute bridges as an assistance exercise for any athlete who needs to perform powerful hip extensions; especially MMA fighters and Olympic lifters. I incorporated them into my training this week after seeing them on AtLarge Nutrition’s YouTube channel and really feel like they will benefit my athletic endeavors. 

MMA work is also coming along nicely.  Practicing submissions with my sandbag (see picture) has yielded good results so far.  This week in training (with a partner) I got two rear naked chokes, an arm lock, and a chicken wing submission. I am nervous for my first fight, but as a wise man once said, you should always do the things that you fear.

My current AtLarge Nutrition supplement regimen is Results, Maximus, Fish Oil, and Multi-Plus.  Maximus is tasty on its own, but downright delicious when mixed with milk, frozen bananas, and cinnamon.  I’m also very excited to see what Results will do for me in the coming weeks. 

Looking ahead in the short term, I’ll be training my high school athletes and starting up an MMA conditioning class at my gym. My fighting skills are not the best, but luckily my personal training has put me at the top of the gym as far as conditioning goes. I’m planning to have a date and location for the NSF fundraiser next week.  Until then, good luck with your training!

AtLarge Nutrition User Bridget’s Amazing Weight Loss Story

My name is Bridget Nicole.  I am 27 years old and live in Raleigh, North Carolina.

I started blogging to chronicle my journey to personal fitness and well-being.  A journey back to being me…  My goal was and is to provide hope and inspiration to others.  To date, I have lost over 120 lbs.  I am not done yet!

A Little Background

Up until the end of my junior year in high school I had always been active in sports and many forms of outdoor recreation.  At the end of that year I came to the realization that my friends and I would soon all be going away to different colleges.  Life as we knew it was never going to be the same.  I quickly decided that extracurricular activities, including sports, were not a priority for my senior year. The most important thing was spending time with my friends.  Unfortunately, that turned into meeting for lunches, dinners, snacks, and desserts. You name it, we ate it!

I began to add weight, slowly at first, and then with increasing rapidity to the point I went from being a size 9 at the beginning of the year to a size 15.  To be honest, at the time I didn’t really mind too much as I had a boyfriend who cared about me and never made it a concern.

Fast Forward to My Freshman Year in College

I was introduced to dorm living.  In my case it wasn’t the best experience.  I did not get along with my roommate and was only friendly with about 5 girls in my hall. 

Thursdays were party night at the favorite fraternity on campus, Theta Delta Chi, aka T-Delt.  I didn’t partake and instead opted to stay in my room talking to my high school boyfriend and eating unhealthy foods. 

After about a month I decided I was tired of sitting in my room.  Going against the wishes of my boyfriend I went to a T-Delt party.  I remember asking myself why I had been so afraid to go out and really experience college social life.  Needless to say I had a BLAST! I was actually noticed by guys and it felt great. 

My newfound social life did lead to breaking up with my high school boyfriend, but I was ok with that (I don’t want to delve into the complexities therein for the purposes of this blog).  I knew it was time that we moved on.  I developed friendships with several girls and did whatever I could to spend more time with them.

By Christmas I had dropped almost 2 pant sizes! I felt great and people were noticing. Unfortunately I forgot about the whole school part of the equation. My grades began to suffer.  By spring, although pleased with my body, I was on academic probation.

Moving Home

With my grades in the dumps my parents decided it was time for me to come back home.  I would attend classes at the local college and needed to bring up my GPA and prove that I was responsible enough to once again go away to school.  This situation was a bit of a blessing in disguise as my brother Justin, an avid lifter, was graduating college and moving back home as well. 

Justin is an expert in eating right and strength training.  He introduced me to the world of resistance training when he asked me to accompany him to the gym one day.  He asked what I wanted to focus on.  Like most women I said my butt!  He proceeded to teach me the PROPER form for squatting. I picked it up very quickly. I remember the day after I lifted weights with him for the first time I could barely sit down.  My bum and legs were so sore. I LOVED it!

I kept at it for months slowly losing more and more weight.  I was soon almost back to my “healthy” high school weight.  The “dark cloud” on the horizon was that I did not simultaneously learn a lot about healthy eating.  I was living at home and relying on my mom’s cooking (which was generally healthy). 

The Love Story Begins

I met Ryan, my current fiancé, around New Year’s 2003. We quickly hit it off and began seeing each other regularly as the 2004 year started. We discovered we had SO much in common. He made me laugh more than anyone else ever had. I was happy with myself and that allowed me to be happy with someone else (plus he was super cute)!

I moved to Wilmington, North Carolina about 6 months into our relationship to attend UNC-Wilmington.  My parents had put their house up for sale.  They were planning to retire to their beach house at Emerald Isle about an hour away from Wilmington. Ryan wasn’t ready to move yet. He was waiting until the spring semester.

I was miserable without him.  Although I was enjoying classes and making new friends I was on the phone with Ryan practically every chance I got. Some of my old habits began to reappear and I started to put on some weight.

When Ryan finally made it down I was ecstatic!  He wanted to join a gym.  I agreed because he said he would train with me. I went pretty regularly with Ryan in the beginning and then slowly got away from it.

The next 2 years saw me gradually gaining weight.  When my clothes got tighter I bought new ones.  I became very sedentary and continued to eat whatever I wanted. I found myself saying (several hundred times), “I will just eat this last non-healthy meal and tomorrow begin to eat healthfully.”  Tomorrow would never come…..

I tried every fad diet, every diet pill; any quick-fix I could get my hands on. You name it, I tried it and NOTHING worked. I began hating myself and resenting my body. I was just miserable. After graduation Ryan and I moved back to Raleigh and got an apartment together. I lost a little weight after we moved from working out, but not much. It would eat away at me. I began to shut down; push Ryan away and became depressed. I realized if I wasn’t happy with myself there was no way I could be happy with anyone else.

Ryan and I decided to take time away from each other not really knowing what the outcome would be, but with the understanding that it was best. In my time away from him I got my own apartment. I thought it would be easy to find in myself what I had lost…  Nothing could have been further from the truth.  I went through about 3 months of just being depressed, feeling lost, not knowing what to do or who I was. Finally, one day after probably the worst weekend of my life I realized I had hit rock bottom. I stayed in bed for 2 days straight.  On the 3rd day (February15, 2010) I woke up and said to myself, “That’s it–TODAY I CHANGE MY LIFE–this is my new beginning. It is now or never!”

I immediately began working out and trying to eat healthier.  I began researching everything possible about my body, my metabolism, foods, hormones, etc. I knew I was going to have to understand how I had gotten to this point and how I was going to get back. The one thing my brother had taught me was how important protein is in my diet. He ordered me my first AtLarge Nutrition Nitrean protein powder in strawberry. At first I was skeptical.  I had tried powders in the past and never cared for the taste.  My first Nitrean shake was a very pleasant surprise J.  I enjoyed the flavor and it mixed very smoothly.  I was hooked! 

By the third month I had developed a routine of healthy eating and training twice per day.  I was down 46 lbs!!!  My motivation was peaked and I wanted more!

By May 2010 I was down 60 lbs. and much happier. I was finding myself and coming into my own. For the first time in my life I TRULY BELIEVED in myself. With this newfound confidence I realized that the one person I wanted to be there to share this wonderful experience wasn’t. I emailed Ryan to see how he was doing, to reconnect on some level. I told him how much I missed him and wanted him in my life sharing this happiness.  We met up a few times which turned into a few dates, and eventually led into being “us” again, but this time was different. It was like night and day. We had never been that happy in our adult lives. We both found ourselves, who we are and who we are meant to be.

In September of 2010, 8 months into my journey, and 88lbs lost, I found Tone It Up. I had started a blog to keep track of my journey. I was looking for new workouts to add to my blog and stumbled across the Tone It Up videos on YouTube. I was hooked instantly. I began following them religiously. Around March of 2011 I made a video thanking Karena and Katrina for all the amazing things they do and for helping me get past my plateau. The girls reposted this video and reached out to me about becoming an ambassador for Tone It Up. I was ecstatic! It was seriously one of the best days of my life! From then on I was a diehard fan! I participated in every contest, challenge, and check-in that Tone It Up offered. This got me heavily involved with the Twitter world and more in-depth with my blog.  The girls from Tone It Up are a huge support system for me. The Tone It Up followers have become like family to me.

Around the same time I also began experimenting with recipes using AtLarge’s Nitrean. My absolute favorites are my homemade chocolate granola & protein pancakes! Everyone who has tried the recipes love them!

This brings me to today! I am a new person–someone I am proud of!  I originally started my blog to help keep track of my journey to my best body ever. It turned into a place for me to share my story with others.  People just like me who struggle to live a healthy lifestyle within the confines of their everyday demands. I want to inspire others by showing them if I can do it, ANYONE can!  120 lbs and counting!  J

14 weeks ago I completely ruptured my Achilles heel while completing a CrossFit workout that consisted of box jumps, a movement that I did all the time.  This particular day was no different.  The workout kicked off with 50 box jumps before moving onto the next movement. The first 27 reps felt like they always did, it was with rep 28 that my world came crashing down.

As I jumped off the box to rebound into the next rep my feet hit the ground.  My right foot stayed on the ball of the foot, the left foot was flat on the floor.  After confirming that I hadn’t broken my ankle I knew exactly what I had done; Achilles rupture.

Upon confirmation the next question was recovery time.  Both the ER doctor and my orthopedic quoted me a 9-12 month recovery. Like any competitive athlete, I was crushed.  I’ve worked too hard the last several years to lose an entire year.  I followed the doctor’s orders to a ‘T’.  Icing regularly and mobilizing early. 

I also worked with Chris Mason, founder of AtLarge Nutrition, to put together a supplementation plan.  Having dealt with a broken L5 vertebra a little over a year ago I learned quickly how important a good nutrition plan was to recovery.  Chris responded the same day with a full plan including;

Nitrean Plus

BCAA

Results

Multi-Plus

Fish Oil

Later that week I began the supplementation plan, and two weeks after surgery I was back in the gym completing upper body workouts.  My Achilles could bear no load for the first 8 weeks after which I was cleared to begin walking without the boot.  From there it was going to be an additional 4-6 weeks before I saw much progress.  Little did my doc know that I would blow that out of the water getting a full green light to return to working out at 11 weeks.  6 months faster than the original projected timeline!

I whole heartedly believe that my AtLarge Nutrition plan helped me recover faster than most.  Of course, I know there are other factors such as age, health, diet, stretching etc, but nutrition is a HUGE part of recovery, and AtLarge helped me big time.

Kate Rawlings is a high level competitive CrossFit Games athlete. With strength and endurance to spare, she is an excellent example of what the CrossFit lifestyle can do for you.

I’m happy to say that, from this point on, all my workouts will be fueled by AtLarge Nutrition. Seeing as I’m ALN’s newest athlete (I won their Get Sponsored contest), an introduction is in order. I’m from a suburb in Pittsburgh, PA and I’m 6’0 and weigh between 170-174#. I’m pursuing high-level athletic performance. I recently graduated SEALFIT’s Kokoro Camp and am pursuing my next challenge. My current goals are to increase strength, win my first MMA fight, and to complete two grueling charity fundraisers of my own construction.

I’ll keep you all apprised of how each supplement factors into my training and how I use them. I look forward to keeping you involved and entertained with pictures of my training and my own experiences with ALN’s products.

 This week got off to a slow start for me. I was feeling run-down after my last cycle so I took an active recovery day. While volunteering last Friday as the strength and conditioning coach for my high school’s Fitness Team I warmed up and did some intensive band stretching to restore my range of motion.

My MMA training was simultaneously encouraging and disheartening this week. I happily bullied through a few people during Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) practice, but I got submitted by more technically sound opponents. I’m adding submission drills into my warm-up as a result and I’ll be practicing some techniques on my grappling partner, or as you may know him, my sandbag.  The good news is that after five 3-minute rounds I wasn’t even close to being gassed. I did six 3-minute rounds later in the week including getting one submission and again did not get gassed.

Strength-wise, I am still building back up from the setbacks I suffered after Kokoro. In the run-up to the camp, I didn’t lift heavy for a week. After graduating, I took several active rest days per the coaches’ instructions. I hit 270# 3×5 Squat which is 25# below my 5RM. My deadlift is still a bit off at just 350# for 5 when pre-Kokoro I was hitting 355-360. I did ring dips and glute-ham raises as assistance exercises after these strength sessions.

My plan for next week is to practice submissions as part of my warm-up and add heavy bag work to my conditioning. I’m also aiming to increase all my lifts by 5# (2.5# for press) and to give everything I’ve got on my sprints and runs. I’m quite excited to try out everything in my first shipment—particularly Maximus and Results. Check in to see how I do next week, especially if you’re interested in those two supplements like me.

 DON’T MISS OUT ON THIS UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN THE MOST EFFECTIVE STRENGTH AND SPORTS PERFORMANCE ENHANCING TRAINING SYSTEM IN THE WORLD. 

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Westside Barbell Webinars
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• Maximum Effort Method
• Dynamic Effort Method
• Repetition Method

5. Rotation of special exercises on Maximal Effort Day

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7.  How to rotate wave style periodization for squat and bench pressing

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Alex Viada is a modern day renaissance man.  He has been a regular member of our boards on www.WannaBeBig.com since nearly its inception (posts under the name Alex.V – formerly “Belial”) over nine years ago.  Having earned a reputation as one of our most knowledgeable members Alex backs it up with degrees from Duke in both economics and biochemistry.  His interest in biochem and performance saw him spend nearly 6 years working in the clinical trial world.  His athletic background is extensive having participated in a dozen sports in high school to include football, rugby, tennis, swimming, and muay thai.  In more recent years he has focused more on strength sports to include powerlifting (with a 725 lbs raw deadlift to his credit).  Perhaps bordering on being a workaholic he has also found time to become an ACE certified personal trainer and licensed paramedic.

Alex in action!

Alex recently approached us with a proposal to test our RESULTS supplement.  Being the overachiever he is, he has decided to attempt to excel in both the powerlifting and Ironman worlds simultaneously.  His goal is to bench press a raw (unequipped) 500 lbs, to achieve a raw squat, bench press, and deadlift competitive powerlifting total of over 1,800 lbs, AND to complete a full Ironman triathlon in less than 12 hours! 

Brute absolute strength and incredible endurance are considered by the scientific and fitness communities to be mutually exclusive.  If he can accomplish this goal it will be truly a monumental feat quite literally unparalleled in the sporting world.  

Success or failure, the training alone will be an incredible test of the versatility and efficacy of RESULTS (www.atlargenutrition.com) and Alex’s amazing work ethic.  Please check out our Facebook page or Alex’s training log on WannaBeBig.com for regular updates on how Alex’s training is going.

Ode to Chris Mason:

As an athlete who’s new to strength training, I’ve definitely benefitted from the knowledge that Chris Mason possesses about effective training, proper recovery, and optimal nutrition.  Initially I was skeptical about asking for his recommendations as I thought his response would include something along the lines of “buy three of everything I sell”, but his feedback has always been scientifically-based and applicable to my specific circumstances.  I have a tendency to over-train, as most new athletes do, and while Chris Mason has made a few suggestions regarding various products, he’s been more direct about the need for me to change my training approach.  Actually, he was pretty blunt about it and I was kind of pissed off at first, but in retrospect penetrating the ego of a powerlifter with sound advice isn’t easy, so his bluntness worked.  The fact that he was willing to correct my habits versus making an easy sale spoke worlds about his business ethic, and his genuine interest in promoting healthy behavior within athletes.  I trust his product recommendations, and I feel secure in the knowledge that I only use the AtLarge Nutrition products that will offer the most benefit to my desired outcomes.

Nitrean is My Universe:

The supplements offered through AtLarge Nutrition have made a substantial impact on my training successes.  I’ve been using their products for about three months and not only have I seen sizeable gains in my totals but I’ve noticed that I’m able to maintain a high level of energy throughout my training sessions, versus losing steam about halfway through.  I admit that the first time I tried Nitrean I was definitely more than a little doubtful- it really does blend suspiciously well and it tastes good without leaving a thick, chalky feeling in your mouth- but it’s surprisingly effective.  I’m not knowledgeable about how much of what type of protein is best or how specific amino acids can help in whatever way, but my experience with these products have proven an increase in my strength levels, greater muscular endurance, and reduced fat/increased lean muscle mass overall.  AtLarge Nutrition is a fantastic addition to my strength training lifestyle, and I’m confident that their products will help me attain a level of performance that I wouldn’t have been able to achieve otherwise.

 Jamie J.

My name is Russell.  I just tried your products for the first time and had to contact you about it.  Wow!  I’ve been using supplements for 10 years and RESULTS is the best tasting supplement I have ever used.  I like it so much I decided to switch my protein from a BSN product to your Nitrean+. 

Russell from VA

Please check this out. AtLarge Nutrition athlete, multi-record holding, and pound for pound one of the strongest women on the planet Laura Phelps Sweatt and her husband Shane have a new YouTube page. They own Sweatt Shop Personal Training and this page logs not only Laura’s amazing feats in the gym, but also the training of their clients and athletes:

http://www.youtube.com/user/sweattshopcincinnati?blend=1&ob=0