Simple Strength. A Program & Guide To Getting Strong Without The Use of Equipment. Chris Lopez AlphaDADProject.

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1 Simple Strength A Program & Guide To Getting Strong Without The Use of Equipment Chris Lopez

2 Disclaimer You must get your physicianʼs approval before beginning this exercise program. These recommendations are not medical guidelines but are for educational purposes only. You must consult your physician prior to starting this program or if you have any medical condition or injury that contraindicates physical activity. This program is designed for healthy individuals 18 years and older only. The information in this report is meant to supplement, not replace, proper exercise training. All forms of exercise pose some inherent risks. The editors and publishers advise readers to take full responsibility for their safety and know their limits.before practicing the exercises in this book, be sure that your equipment is well-maintained, and do not take risks beyond your level of experience, aptitude, training and fitness. The exercises and dietary programs in this book are not intended as a substitute for any exercise routine or treatment or dietary regimen that may have been prescribed by your physician. Donʼt lift heavy weights if you are alone, inexperienced, injured, or fatigued. Donʼt perform any exercise unless you have been shown the proper technique by a certified personal trainer or certified strength and conditioning specialist. Always ask for instruction and assistance when lifting. Donʼt perform any exercise without proper instruction. Always do a warm-up prior to strength training and interval training. See your physician before starting any exercise or nutrition program. If you are taking any medications, you must talk to your physician before starting any exercise program, including Simple Strength. If you experience any lightheadedness, dizziness, or shortness of breath while exercising, stop the movement and consult a physician. You must have a complete physical examination if you are sedentary, if you have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or diabetes, if you are overweight, or if you are over 30 years old. Please discuss all nutritional changes with your physician or a registered dietician. If your physician recommends that you donʼt use Simple Strength, please follow your doctorʼs orders. Copyright 2017 & Beyond #AlphaDAD Media Inc!2

3 A Note from Chris Lopez I wrote Simple Strength as a general guide for myself, initially, to make sure that I was developing the right habits in my daily strength practice. I also needed something simple to follow in a busy time of my life where I couldn t dedicate spending hours per week at the gym. After the feedback from some colleagues and subscribers, I decided to publish it as a free guide. So with that, if you feel that someone you know would benefit from a guide like this, please share it. You can download the updated version of Simple Strength at If you d like more tips on Fitness, Health, Fatherhood, Parenting, Minimalism, Travel and other Lifestyle related information - from a Married Minimalist Dad with 5 kids - then please sign up for my newsletter at Thanks for your support and for reading, Chris!3

4 Table of Contents Disclaimer 2 A Note from Chris Lopez 3 Table of Contents 4 Strength is a PRACTICE 5 The Simplest Way To Get Strong 7 Specificity 7 Frequent Practice 9 Simple Strength for Fat Loss 10 What is a fat loss program, really? 10 9 Simple Fat Loss Rules 12 The Simple Strength Program 14 The Simple Strength Program Schedule 16 Implementing Simple Strength 17!4

5 Strength is a PRACTICE One of the biggest misconceptions in the fitness world is that you have to be in pain in order for something to work. Feel the burn. One more rep, Bro! No pain, no gain. But in the practice of strength, these DO NOT apply. Instead, you must adopt the Habit of Strength and make it about Practice. Think about this If you want to get better at driving a golf ball, you wouldn t go to a driving range and swing a club 564,000 times until your arms fell off. Would you? I hope not. You d end up more than sore the next day (and for a few days after as well). And that s not motivating at all. Instead, doing a little bit frequently throughout the week Focusing on your technique and the little nuances of a golf swing would do so much more for your practice of getting better at golf. Strength plays by the same rules Never training to failure. Never trying to experience pain. Just focusing on getting better. This is the difference between Strength Training Practice and just Working Out.!5

6 Simple Strength is a program of planned progression that will help you get better at strength without working you out. In other words, Simple Strength will make you STRONGER. So, how do you get stronger if you don t get out of breath or go to failure? I ll explain it to you in the next section!6

7 The Simplest Way To Get Strong When I set out to write this program, I wanted to make my training as simple as possible. After selling 90% of my stuff and moving to Costa Rica with my wife and 5 kids, I knew life would become somewhat unpredictable. Navigating a new culture, building an off-grid shipping container home in the jungle, running 2 businesses, raising 5 kids I knew that my schedule would get crazy (so much for Minimalism, right?) So I wanted a simple way to get strong that wouldn t cause me a lot of stress. Enter the Evil Russian In 2004 I bought a book called the Naked Warrior by Pavel Tsatsouline. Later in my career, Pavel would become the PRIMARY INFLUENCE for training and education in the fitness industry. Almost everything I know about how to train for strength, I know because of Pavel. In the Naked Warrior, you re introduced to a concept called Greasing the Groove (the technical term for it is synaptic facilitation). GTG can basically be summed up like this Specificity + Frequent Practice = SUCCESS Specificity We all know what SPECIFICITY means. If you want to get better at the skill of writing, you re not going to practice solving Algebra equations all day. You gotta WRITE, son! Similarly, if you want to finally hit a 1-arm push-up, you re not going to achieve that doing burpees.!7

8 How can I practice a 1-arm push-up if I can t do 1-arm push-ups? Good question. You practice a specific variation of the 1-arm push-up. Play with the leverage. Instead of doing a 1-arm push-up on the floor, put your hand on 2nd, 3rd or 4th step on your staircase. Then as you get better - or that variation becomes easier (same thing) - you drop down another step. That s how I did it. I started GTG-ing on the 4th step. After a month, it was easy so I went down to the 3rd. After a month I dropped to the 2nd and then finally made it to the floor. Which brings me to another point This is a PROGRAM not a workout. With a program, you must have a BIG PICTURE OUTLOOK. You must understand that where you are NOW (today) is NOT where you re going to be a few weeks from now PROVIDED that you follow this program as it s laid out. Any Joe Schmoe can write a bunch of workouts out, put it in some fancy document and then call that a program but you and I know, it s not. Why? Because PROGRAMS have specific progressions and strategic regressions built into them. A program is about taking 2, 3, 4 or 5 steps forward and then taking 1 or 2 steps back on purpose to allow your body to recover. If you constantly strive to beat your numbers and set PRs in each and every workout, you ll burn out (or get injured). Which brings me to the second part of the GTG equation!8

9 Frequent Practice Practice as often as you can, but staying as fresh as you can. Keep your reps low and your form perfect. NEVER train to failure. Save the light weights and going to failure for bodybuilding - which is fine, just not my thing. GTG is about breeding a pattern in your nervous system - a habit, if you will. If you train to failure, you re teaching your body to fail. All your reps must be perfect and when your rep quality stops being smooth & controlled (ie when rep 5 no longer looks like Rep 1), you terminate the set, rest (for however long it takes you to recover) and then continue if you need to. Big, compound exercises are usually the best to use. My chiropractor in Toronto, Paul, has a bar loaded in his office squat rack with 315lbs (3 x 45lb plates on each side). Between appointments he ll get under the bar and do 1-3 easy reps several times per day. That weight - 315lbs - has become his easy strength weight. A weight that he can comfortably squat without stressing. If needed, he could probably bang out 5-7 hard reps at that weight. So his sets of 1-3 reps are only really 20% to 60% of his max. But over the course of a day, depending on how many appointments he has, he ll accumulate anywhere from 8 to 20+ at 315. Think about what that will do to his 1 rep max if he could make 315 feel really light. When you have a solid building (your body), if you push the foundation up (315lbs), the ceiling will automatically go up as well (1RM).!9

10 Simple Strength for Fat Loss First, let s get this out of the way Hormones. (Quality of) Sleep. Stress Levels. Environment. Fat Loss is SIMPLE it just isn t EASY. In addition to diet & exercise all play a role in you getting leaner and seeing your abs. In my experience, actually, exercise should be the LEAST of your worries when it comes to fat loss. Being strong will help, but there s more to it. Let your Strength Training Practice do its job to make you strong and understand that it s your HABITS that will get you lean. After all What is a fat loss program, really? Here s something to consider when it comes to fat loss training You can have the best fat loss program written that gets you out of breath and burns a ton of calories - good fat loss programs will make you strong too BUT if you re just eating pizza, doughnuts, chicken wings and fries, washing all that down with a Coke and then getting to bed at 1am because you re up watching Game of Thrones and then waking up at 6am for work, everyday, then it doesn t matter how much you sweat you re going to stay fat (or even get fatter).!10

11 So forget about fat loss workouts. Instead focus on the right Fat Loss Habits and making adjustments to your lifestyle in order to lost fat. One of my favourite quotes about fat loss comes from strength coach (and mentor), Dan John Fat Loss is not a long term program. Fat loss is an all out war. Give it 28 days. Only 28 days. Attack it with all you have. It is NOT a lifestyle choice it is a battle. Lose fat, and then get back into moderation. There's another one for you: moderation. Revelations says it best: "You are lukewarm and I shall spit you out." Moderation is for the weak. Fat loss is not a long-term program. I can't prove it, I know, but it is true, though. -Dan John Strength Coach & Philosopher Here are my recommendations (on the Next Page)!11

12 9 Simple Fat Loss Rules These are the rules that I give to anybody that comes to me wanting to lose fat. These rules are NOT easy to follow, but if you adhere to them, you will lose weight. 1. Get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. 2. Go for a brisk walk (preferably outside) first thing in the morning for AT LEAST 30 minutes EVERYDAY. This is best practiced AFTER downing a big glass of water and a cup of black coffee. 3. Get minutes of sun exposure everyday (this can be incorporated into your walking habit above). 4. Meditate or practice deep breathing for at least 12 minutes everyday DO NOT eat ANY processed food, sugar, grains, starch or fruit (yes, I said fruit 2). Your food should come from lean, organic protein, green vegetables and healthy fats. 6. Drink 1/2 your bodyweight in ounces of water everyday. 7. Supplement with Fish Oil. Follow Dan John s recommendation Start with 3 fish oil capsules and increase the amount by 1 capsule every 2-3 days until you get a bit 'runny." (If you don't know what I mean, you've never taken too many fish oil capsules.) From that number, back off one or two and that's the amount of capsules you need a day. If you're taking a good quality brand of fish oil, it'll be a smaller number than someone taking a cheap store brand because it's so concentrated in fatty acids No, fruit does NOT make you fat, but we want to limit the amount of overall sugar you are consuming. Fruit contains many essential vitamins and minerals, but we are going to get that from our vegetables. So before you chalk me up to being an anti-fruit because it makes you fat guy, understand that I am making this recommendation for ONLY 28 days. After that, you can go bananas (pun intended).!12

13 8. OPTIONAL - 1 to 2 times per week, eat NOTHING for a 24h period (this is also called Intermittent Fasting). You can read more about Intermittent Fasting HERE. 9. Train for STRENGTH (I ve got you covered on the NEXT PAGE).!13

14 The Simple Strength Program The basis for the Simple Strength Program is, well, simple. Pick 2 exercises that you want to get better at - in our case, it would have to be a no equipment bodyweight exercise - and practice that exercise 3-4 times per week or more and as often as possible. Never train to failure. Always stay fresh. Perform each rep with perfect form/technique. When I initially did this, I did Pavel s Naked Warrior protocol and used a 1-arm Push- Up and a Pistol. I ve also adapted this program for chin-ups and wrote a program specifically for it called Double Your Chin-Ups in 28 Days. But you can use any exercise you feel you need to improve. Ideally though, you want to use non-competing exercises (upper & lower, push & pull). For simplicity purposes, we re going to use Push-Ups & Pistols. Dips and Chin-Ups work well with this too. Or dips and pistols. Or chin-ups and pistols. Or well, you get the point. OK first, let s see where you are!14

15 Step 1 - Find Your Baselines As mentioned before, we must find out where you ARE so that we can keep track of progress. We need to find out what your TECHNICAL MAX is. Your TECHNICAL MAX is the number of total PERFECT REPS of an exercise you can do Push-Ups How many push-ups (you choose the variation) can you do with PERFECT FORM? Write that number below Squats or Pistols 100% Push-Ups How many squats or pistols can you do with PERFECT FORM? Write that number below Step 2 - Find Your Percentages 100% Squats/Pistols Now, let s find your sub-max percentages that you will be working with. Remember with my buddy Paul, he was working at around 10-30%. Because we re working with bodyweight, we ll work in the 50%-70% range. Push-Ups!15

16 The Simple Strength Program Schedule You can now tackle this Option 1 - Train 3-4x per week This plan is for someone that has a life (ie kids, work, responsibilities, commitments, etc). It assumes that you can dedicate 3-4 days per week to your strength practice and that M Tu W Th F Sa Su Push-Ups Squats Medium 60% OFF Light 50% OFF Heavy 70% Heavy Heavy Light 70% 70% 50% (Optional) Light 50% (Optional) Light 50% OFF Option 2 - Train Everyday This option is for the Habit Builder that has his or her recovery dialed-in. I would suggest you only do this option if you have some experience with strength training already and if you re consistently eating well and sleeping at least 8hrs per night. M Tu W Th F Sa Su Push-Ups Squats Light Medium Heavy Light Medium Heavy 50% 60% 70% 50% 60% 70% Heavy Medium Light Heavy Medium Light 70% 60% 50% 70% 60% 50% OFF!16

17 Implementing Simple Strength Once you ve figured out your schedule, you can now determine how to implement Simple Strength in your day.!17

WARNING: This ebook is for your personal use only. You may NOT Give Away, Share Or Resell This Intellectual Property In Any Way

WARNING: This ebook is for your personal use only. You may NOT Give Away, Share Or Resell This Intellectual Property In Any Way All Rights Reserved Copyright 2016 Derek Wahler Fitness. All rights are reserved.