Actor Pete Koch: 56 Years Old.

Pete's life in pictures:

https://www.google.com/search?q=actor+pete+koch&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=J-8At0F28VWWeM%253A%252CVjy6NuSrtVG88M%252C_&usg=AI4_-kSaklveSYIuXz3SgnpSxBJmB5-GFQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwivgq2_vPDeAhXWJTQIHTJbBBoQ_h0wFXoECAEQCA#imgrc=J-8At0F28VWWeM:

New Year's Resolution? Got It.

Grow Younger By Losing The Fat

https://damnripped.com/

Not only is this man's transformation remarkable for the fact his youthful "after" body has taken a couple decades off his age, but even his face is younger.

Denial is the main reason why people fail to see how they actually look or admit to how poorly they feel. Yes, change is uncomfortable - but not nearly as uncomfortable as the self-inflicted disabilities that come from an absence of self-care.

Make FIXING YOURSELF your New Year's Resolution—beginning today rather than waiting for January 1.

Your Workout Playlist Could Be The #1 Thing Holding You Back.

photo courtesy http://fortemag.com.au

Bringing your favorite music to the gym is a big mistake.

At every gym I’ve ever worked out at the radio is played over loud speakers. Since I’m not a big fan of 80% of what they play on the radio, this muzak is not an issue for me. If on the other hand they were streaming all my favorite songs at the gym, I would find myself continually involved in the playlist. I’d be keeping the beat with my foot, humming along, admiring a clever riff here and there, recalling where I was and who I was with when I first heard it, etc. But thankfully they’re not playing my favorites, and so I can tune it out and concentrate on the workout.

Having a favorite gym playlist on your device is an intentional distraction from the task at hand. If you believe working out is boring and therefore you need multiple distractions to get through the terrible ordeal of self-care, you’re missing the whole point of working out. If you were working out properly with good form and with the required intensity and concentration and following a plan, your workout would be the exact opposite of boring. In addition you’d be too spent and out of breath to have the energy to be swiping your phone or adjusting your iPod every two minutes. Nobody who experiences a positive transformation in their body would ever describe the process as boring. Hard work is never boring. Uncomfortable, yes. Painful, sometimes. Challenging, always. But never boring.

People are bored because they’re doing it all wrong, with low energy and lacking the desire to learn, and thus they see little if anything in the way of desired results. It would be one thing if people were watching a video on how to perform their chosen exercise correctly, but never once have I seen anyone who is on their phone at the gym doing such a practical, logical thing as watching a workout video to improve their form. Rather, it’s all CandyCrush, Instagram and Tinder.

Hyper-Extending: The Best Way To Permanently Fuck Up Your Joints.

In this screenshot from his video, Scott Herman hyper-extends his right arm, essentially resting. He has released the stress on his right biceps, thus taking them out of the equation. He needs to keep a bend in his right elbow at this stage to maintain the flex in the biceps, which will reduce the stress on his right elbow substantially as he powers up for the next rep.

Hyper-Extending is both useless and dangerous.

A muscle can stretch or extend only so far. Going beyond that point is called HYPER-EXTENDING. Hyperextending adds NOTHING to the result—except a world of hurt. 

I see guys doing barbell biceps curls on a preacher bench, or going below parallel on dumbbell chest presses for example, in which enormous stress is placed on the joints to accomplish their hyper-extending. Not only does the target muscle not receive any additional benefit from hyper-extending, but quite the opposite, since the flex and concentration on the target muscle must be released/disengaged in order to accomplish a hyper-extension, thus transferring the stress from the muscle you are trying to enlarge to your fragile joints.

And for those who claim their joints are "just fine, thank you": tick-tock.

But hey, what do I know? I’ve just been working out for 58 years and still going strong—and I can guarantee that those of you who are big fans of the hyper-extension sure as hell won’t be.

The Amazing Ross Edgley Has Swum 1791 Miles Around Britain!

Read the story on CNN:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/04/europe/ross-edgley-swims-around-great-britain-trnd/index.html

62 year old Inspiration/ Александр Яшанькин 62 года.

Ass To Grass Exacts A Heavy Toll

Richard Sullivan @ age 52: 5'9", 196 lbs.

The fake controversy that refuses to go away is Ass-To-Grass (ATG). Proponents of this squatting tomfoolery are predominantly amped-up young people who lecture that since they haven’t blown out their knees yet, that they know what’s best for all.

Furthermore, their immature/inexperienced claim that legs can’t be built without ATG is just ignorant. I have never gone the ATG route, but photos of my quads seen here in my early 50s prove ATG claims as to their "necessity" are groundless. 

Two thirds of my power quad workout has always been leg presses and machine hack squats as opposed to the squat rack, so think twice before buying in to those pontificating that impressive quads can’t be built unless you barbell squat. It ain't so.

Our knees are hinges—not shock absorbers.

There are some truly cringe-worthy videos online showing guys with a loaded bar literally dropping full speed from a starting position into an ass-to-the-grass position, and even worse, using a bounce at the bottom to propel themselves upward again. Ouch!

Common sense isn’t at all common if the endless foolishness played out in YouTube gym and workout videos are any measure, and I believe they are. These numerous likeminded people are getting their bizarre “techniques” (for want of a better term) from somewhere, and that has to be videos of others doing the same. But why they choose to follow the morons rather than the many, many responsible, grounded and accomplished fitness vloggers and bodybuilders online is anyone’s guess.

Save your knees. They’ll really come in handy in your later years— trust me.

Why I Have No Interest In Entering Contests

Richard Sullivan @ age 52

A trainer at my gym who otherwise never speaks to me suddenly asked if I was interested in competing in an upcoming contest. He was very complimentary—which was both kind and welcome, but seemed put out when I told him I didn’t have any desire to stand on stage, nor did I relish contest prep and all that it required.

When in my late 40s and early 50s I was almost continually “contest-ready,” according to others’ opinions, whenever I worked out at Gold’s Venice or ate at The Firehouse or visited bodybuilder stores like Max Muscle. People just didn’t accept that I maintained the condition that I did “just because,” with no endgame in mind.

What I didn’t mention to them, so as not to offend, were two things: that I don’t care about approval from others, and that during the 1980s when I watched bodybuilding contests on ESPN and attended quite a few in person with my gym friends, that the person who I/we were sure was going to win often did not. Judging in bodybuilding contests at that time was suspicious if not sketchy. In fact it was known that some bodybuilders did special favors for judges in order to influence their vote.

I fully understand the ego lift that official accolades bring, but I also have witnessed the enormous investment that some bodybuilders I knew made to be recognized and went unrewarded, and how that affected them mentally and physically. Depression among bodybuilders is common, and when someone is pumped up to win, but loses badly after many months of sacrifice, grueling work and preparation, they can really crash.

Living and working in Hollywood as a professional photographer as I did for many years I was continually exposed to men and women who were certain they would make it bigtime in films or music, only to see 99% of them disappointed. I counted myself lucky in that I had no desire to be an actor, model, rock star or any other kind of celebrity for that matter.

Competitive people like to think of themselves as strong. In fact they think there’s something wrong with those who are not competitive. However being competitive means having a strong drive—a need in fact—to prove oneself as being as good or better than the next guy.

Some people already know they’re as good, or better, than the next guy.