christutela

I hate to even utter the words.

The Dad Bod.

A term that somehow, someway has become acceptable to most middle-aged men in The United States.

The fact that “The Dad Bod” is a term that’s even tolerated is a direct reflection of the current state of weakness amongst our society.

So before you become comfortable putting yourself in “The Dad Bod” category, let’s talk about what this even means.

You’re Lazy

Your physique is a direct reflection of who you are as a human being. Let’s be honest, if you have excessive body fat you’re probably not working as hard as you should be. The excuse that you don’t have time to train is bullshit. You know it and I know it. There are 24 hours in the day. Make the time and do the work. We are talking about 3-7 hours per week of work. Are you really telling me that you don’t have 3-7 hours out of 168? Of course you do, make the fu$%ing time.

You’re Weak

People that suffer from Dad Bod disorder are weak and out of shape. Being weak is unacceptable. You’re more prone to injury, have lower testosterone, more susceptible to depression and you’re unhealthy. Plus, since you’re a dad you have people in your life that need you to protect them. If you’re weak you can barely protect yourself. Being weak sucks and we don’t want that for you. Don’t accept weakness.

You Lack Muscle

A lack of muscle mass goes hand and hand with being weak and lazy. You lie to yourself about not having time to train so you don’t, which is the reason you’re weak, which is the reason you lack muscle mass. A lack of muscle mass equals a lack of confidence in yourself and a lessened desire to want to take your shirt off around other people. Which definitely sucks at the beach, pool party and certainly when you’re “smashing cheeks” ;-)! Don’t be “ok” with having no muscle. Come on, we all want to look and feel better, get to work.

You’re too fat

To top off lazy, weak and skinny you’re fat as well. That’s a deadly combination. The icing on the cake for “The Dad Bod” is a gigantic gut, right above your love muscle. I mean, seriously, is that a good look? Hell no. It’s horrific, you have to get rid of that shit. We know excessive body fat leads to a lot of messed up diseases like diabetes and cancer. You don’t want that and we don’t want that for you.

When I hear people say “I totally have a dad bod” and laugh about it means they are the sum of the four categories above, and are totally ok with it!

But maybe this post will help those people realize that the “Dad Bod” sucks and no one should live their life accepting that. Get off of your ass and do something about it! You’re not just doomed and stuck with that “Dad Bod” for life. You can change it. Just stop making sorry excuses for yourself and put in the work.

Saying you have a “Dad Bod” is another way of saying that you’re ok with mediocrity.  

Are you really ok with not striving to be the best version of you?

Are you really going to tell me that you don’t want to achieve greatness in your life?

Are you really telling me that you accept being weak, fat, skinny and lazy and plan to do

nothing about it?

Well if so then don’t waste your time reading this post.

This post was created for the go-getters.

The winners.

The ones that are willing to make sacrifices. To earn their stripes.

The ones that are willing to work harder than anyone on the fucking planet, at whatever they do. So they can achieve a life of greatness and happiness.

The ones that look adversity right in the eye and take it head on.

Because these are the people that can achieve great things, and we want to help you get there.

Remember, it doesn’t matter where you start. If you’re currently rocking “The Dad Bod” that’s ok. If you’re willing to do something about it. Don’t just accept that shit and put yourself in that category. Go shock the world and be the first guy to throw your shirt off at the beach this summer and enjoy every second of it.

Don’t continue your contribution to the occurring epidemic of “The Dad Bod” in this country. Let’s get rid of this term all together and to do that, first we have to get rid of “The Dad Bod” being the norm.

So here is my contribution to putting a stop to this epidemic once and for all.

Here’s a few tips that you can start implementing right now to start taking action and wage war against “The Dad Bod”!

1. Eat earth grown nutrients: Chicken breast, grass fed beef, wild caught fish, beans, potatoes, rice, vegetables, fresh fruit, nuts and cage free eggs are great sources of food. Base at least 90-95% of your diet on only foods like these for the next 8-12 weeks.

2. Eliminate everything with refined sugar, flour and artificial sweeteners: Sugar and flour are two substances that are both highly addictive, inflammatory and linked to a lot of diseases including cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Artificial sweeteners are also linked to many diseases and are loaded with chemicals. An easy way to avoid all of this crap is by sticking to rule number 1.

3. Lift heavy weights: I say this with caution considering some of you may have injuries or are at the beginner level. If you don’t know what you’re doing hire a good coach that can teach you. If you’re on your own, train to get stronger within rep ranges of 6-12 at first. Press, pull and squat with flawless technique. Hit the weights 2-4 times per week and watch your physique transform.

4. Sprint: A fundamental human movement that we are designed to do. Warm-up properly and start off with hill sprints and stadium stairs before progressing to the flat ground. It’s much safer to start that way if you haven’t sprinted in a while. Start off with 1-2 sprint sessions per week and that will do a number on that “Dad Bod”.

5. Enhance your natural testosterone production: Tips 1-4 will help you start producing more anabolic hormones naturally, but they alone will not be enough. Here’s a few ways to speed up that process.

A. Sleep 7-9 hours per night: When you get quality sleep your body produces more of these hormones and has many other benefits beyond the scope of this post.

B. Stop stressing over bullshit: When you stress over every little thing your body produces more of the stress hormone cortisol. Chronic and excessive cortisol production is detrimental to muscular tissue and stores body fat like a son of a bitch. That’s obviously not something you want.

C. Meditate: Meditation has incredible benefits and will help combat cortisol even more. Reduce stress and watch the quality of your life improve.

D. Have sex more often: Do I really have to justify this one? Get in there! It will help increase your test levels!

Start applying all of these tips today and I guarantee you will starting seeing noticeable changes in the way you look and feel in the next 4-6 weeks. But remember you should be in this for the long haul. Don’t look for any quick fixes. You’re better than that! But in order to make these tips life habits, first you need to start. So get moving!

I hope by now you guys are all with me on waging war against “The Dad Bod”. If you didn’t already know, you now know what you are subjecting yourself to by putting yourself in that category.

We can all achieve anything we want in this life, but we are the ones that dictate the outcome. Are you going to do something about it? Or just sit back and continue to do nothing?

I trust you’ll make the right choice.

Stand with me brothers and sisters, let’s change some lives!

Sleep.

Something so simple that will help build muscle, burn fat, improve your mood, productivity, mental clarity, physical and mental performance and combat disease.

Something so simple, yet not many people have good or even decent sleeping habits.

This is usually do to stress, social activity, poor habits, work and lack of physical exercise.

Now, I don’t claim to be a sleep “expert” but I do know a thing or two about enhancing your quality of sleep so you can maximize your life.

If you are someone that has poor sleep habits, I want you to try the tips listed in this post. I would bet money that these things will improve your sleep quality and lead to a healthier, stronger, and more productive you!

So my friends, check out these tips and change your lives for the better!

Unplug at least one hour before bed

We live in a world where we are constantly at the mercy of our phones. When we stare at our phones right up until bedtime a few things happen. One, your mind stays active when you’re trying to get in a relaxed state. Emotions like joy, sadness, aggravation and even jealousy can occur when looking at social media. Do yourself a favor and don’t subject yourself to that. Trust me, you can find out in the morning how many likes your photo got.

Your mind needs to relax in order for you to get the best sleep possible. It can’t do that if you’re checking emails, answering calls, texting or worrying about what you have to do tomorrow.

Shut your phone off or keep it on silent. You don’t need to be woken up by your drunk friend at 3-am so he can tell you about his “successful” tinder date.

Kill the phone an hour before bed.

Sleep in a pitch dark room

Keeping the t.v. on at night will ruin your quality of sleep. When you sleep in a pitch dark room you help produce the hormone melatonin. Melatonin a very powerful hormone that combats cancer and other diseases. Any source of light, like a t.v, can inhibit your melatonin production.

Why would you want to limit the production of a hormone that combats cancer?

That same hormone is then limited when you are woken up throughout the night. Thus the importance of killing the cell phone so you don’t get woken up by text or a phone call.

The bedroom should be used for sleep and smashing cheeks.

Keep the t.v. in the living room!

Meditate

Most of society is totally overstressed. I don’t want to turn this into a post on the importance of reducing stress. But I do want you to know a great way to do it.

And that’s meditation.

Now, most people think of meditation as weird. They picture sitting on a floor with legs crossed making strange noises. It doesn’t have to be like that.

Meditating can be as simple as sitting on your couch with your eyes closed for just 10-15 minutes. Doing nothing but focusing on your breathing and relaxing your mind. It doesn’t have to be weird. Think of it as another way to relax.

Meditation is great at any point of the day, but try 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes at night to start. Try it with dimmed lights and within 30 minutes of going to sleep.

This will help you reduce the stress from the day, and give you some YOU-time that we all so desperately need. Especially these days.

Exercise

If you’re reading this blog, I shouldn’t even have to mention this one.

 But I will anyway.

Exercise improves your quality of life all around, including your sleep habits.

If you exercise vigorously you will exert more energy throughout the day, which will make you more tired come bed time.

Do some type of activity every day, aside from your weight training.

Get to bed “on time”

Studies have shown that human beings have the highest secretion in hormones between the hours of 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. This is due to the fact that as humans we are designed to sleep when it’s dark and wake when it’s light.

It’s easy to get caught up in the “Netflix and chill” mode but do your body a favor and get to bed instead.

This is the prime time for the body to rejuvenate and produce more of the hormones that will combat disease and keep you healthy!

I hope that you guys start to apply this to your lives immediately. I guarantee that you will quickly see the benefits on the playing field, work, relationships, mood, energy levels and life in general!

I am definitely a believer in work hard, play hard so have your fun! But don’t neglect your sleep when it counts the most.

So get to bed MoFo’s and let’s start the movement of getting better every day!

Catch you guys next time.

Isee it all the time. Younger athletes and brand new lifters, trying to mimic the Youtube and InstaGram videos of their favorite athletes and lifters.

Cleans, squats, deadlifts and all of the other great exercises out there  that are essential for building a bigger, stronger, faster, more powerful you.

However, some of these lifters aren’t quite ready for these movements.

I’m not talking about all beginners, I’m talking about the guys and girls that are extremely tight, weak, lack stability or have suffered some type of injury that limits their mobility or training capabilities.

For instance, if you cannot pick up a 135 lb. deadlift with a perfectly neutral spine, well then you shouldn’t be deadlifting, yet. But in many cases, not only are they performing deadlifts but they are attempting Olympic lifts like Cleans and Snatches.

The sad part is, most of the time these exercises are recommended to them by coaches or their gym’s meathead.  You know the guy, usually rocking the headphones, cutoff, has the worst technique of all time but is always giving people advice on their form.

Don’t listen to that guy. Please.

Instead, if you’re a young athlete or a beginner who isn’t sure how to move properly you are better off building a foundation of balance, strength and mobility first. Then progress to the big complex lifts.

At that point you will have built the foundation needed to perform the exercises properly and really benefit from them.

And don’t worry, if you’re new to the iron game you will absolutely pack on muscle during this foundational phase. In fact, this period is an absolute necessity if you want to maximize your gains.

If you can’t move or balance properly, you ain’t getting stronger, which means you ain’t gettin bigger either. It’s more of a waste of time to try the bigger lifts without doing them right.

Now that you’re with me, lets talk about some basic movement patterns you should be practicing if you want to get jacked!

Squat

First, learn to squat with body weight. Place your hands behind your head and set your feet just outside of shoulder width apart, toes slightly pointed out. Initiate the movement by driving your hips back as far as you can, keeping your chest up the entire time, begin to sit on your heals all the way down to parallel (make a straight line from your knee to your hip), once you get down to parallel begin driving back up through your heals. On the way up push your knees out away from each other. Be sure to exhale hard once you get about ¼ of the way up.

Perform 20 of these in your warm-up every day to help beat this movement pattern into your brain.

Now, work some squat variation into your training program. I recommend the goblet squat which is the same movement I just mentioned, only you are now holding a dumbbell against your chest. The dumbbell should be held vertically with your palms underneath the top head of the dumbbell and your fingers grasping over the top of the same head.

These are great for building a base of strength and stability and are much safer for beginners to learn than a traditional back squat.

Push-ups

Push-ups are an exercise that, when done correctly, are incredible for building size, strength and stability.

Start in the top position with your elbows fully extended, lower yourself to the ground keeping your elbows against your sides as if you were squeezing your rib cage with your elbows. Keep your abs tight like you were going to take a punch to the stomach the entire set to ensure that your hips do not drop. Once your chest touches the ground, exhale and forcefully push back up to the starting position. Keep in mind that your feet should be touching each other for the entire set.

Romanian Deadlift

Learning a proper hip hinge is also essential. Like the squat, it is a fundamental human movement pattern. Start with just a barbell to teach yourself the movement. Grab the bar with an even, shoulder width grip and start in the standing position. While keeping your chest up for the entirety of the exercise, engage your hips by pushing your butt back as far as you can. Eyes on the floor about one foot in front of you. As you begin the hip hinge the bar will start moving down, be sure to keep the barbell against your legs at all times. In the bottom position your chest should be parallel to the floor and ideally the bar will be at about mid-shin. The knees will bend slightly but do not confuse this with a squat. Keep in mind that you don’t want to reach for the floor with your shoulders. A good way to feel this is to keep your shoulders back and the lats flexed at all times. On the way back up you are driving the hips forward so you finish in the standing position. Be sure to not shrug the weight on the way up.

Rows

In most public gyms, rows might be the number one exercise that people destroy the most. Let’s keep it simple and use a bent over supinated barbell row as an example since there are many variations. Supinated is just referring to your grip. Grab the bar with your palms facing away from you and your pinky finger on the line between the smooth and rough part of the bar (about shoulder width). Now get set the same way as if you were doing a Romanian Deadlift (RDL). Only this time you are going to begin pulling the barbell towards your bellybutton by squeezing your shoulder blades together. Keep the low back arched at all times and be sure to pull from your upper back, not your biceps or forearms. Keep the wrists straight and bring the bar all the way up to touch your bellybutton. Then, begin bringing the bar back to the starting position by reaching the shoulders towards the floor. Again, start with just the bar, then begin adding weight. On any row, if you can’t pause in the top range of the exercise, the weight is too heavy.

Your program can be as simple as those four exercises for the first 3-6 weeks of training. If you just get good at those four first and foremost, the other stuff you add in will make much more sense. Remember, training is for the long haul and you have to crawl before you walk. You will get to the bigger exercises in a couple of months.

Start small and get big, faster!

I hope this helps guys, if you have any questions please feel free to shoot me an email at info@tutelatraining.com.

If you found this post helpful please hook a brotha up and click the share button.

I would really appreciate it!

Catch you guys next time!

Everyone wants to know how to grow their chest. That’s pretty apparent from the amount of guys you’ll see on the bench press at every public gym in America.

But if you really want those pecs to grow there’s a lot more to it than a bench press and half-assed sets of dumbbell presses.

Here are 5 tips on how to get that chest JACKED faster than you thought possible!

Use full range of motion

 Most guys are more concerned with their ego than the actual progress they make. That leads to dudes with a weight that’s way too heavy and ¼ reps with a bunch of silly screaming involved. “Take it easy psycho” as Adam Sandler would say and back the weight down. Do the exercise properly. For example if you’re performing a dumbbell press lower the dumbbells down to touch the chest and press up to full extension. I bet those 120’s will quickly go down to 80’s, but that is ok! Now you are actually performing the exercise and that will elicit a much greater growth response.

Utilize different push-up variations

Push-ups are tremendous for packing on size when done correctly. Again be sure to use full range of motion and do them for max reps or weighted for a specific rep range. You can add weight by using a weighted vest or have a partner hold plates on your back. You can also increase difficulty by getting your hands and gymnast rings or TRX straps. Hang them from a chin-up bar and perform suspended push-ups. You’ll quickly see how much more stability is needed to do these. These are one of my favorites and I usually like to do them for 1-3 sets of 1 less than max reps.

Use eccentric reps

If you are a beginner and getting your chest to the ground on a push-up is a challenge in itself, eccentric reps are a great way for you to build the foundation needed. Start in the top range of a push-up and lower yourself down for 3-5 seconds until your chest touches. Takea quick pause in the bottom, put your knee down and reset back to the top position. You can also use eccentrics for barbell and dumbbell press variations, even if you are an advanced trainee. Focusing on the eccentric phase of the rep is a great stimulus and you will sure as hell feel them the next day!

Stretch those mo’fos

 If the pecs are tight they can be a stubborn SOB to get to grow. After an upper body session take 10 minutes to stretch the pecs. If you’re not sure how try grabbing a light set of dumbbells, (for some guys that means 20’s and some that means 10’s, be conservative for your first set) lay back on an incline bench and perform a chest fly only in the bottom position pause for about 30 seconds. You should feel it in the belly of the muscle, not the shoulder so play around with it until you feel it where you’re supposed to. Repeat for 3 sets.

Progressions, progressions, progressions!

Remember, you’re not strength training if you ain’t getting strong. Progress in either weight or reps each week. A good hypertrophy rep range is 8-12. Get yourself strong in that rep range and I will guarantee those pecs will grow. Again focus on clean technique and start off with a conservative weight so you can make progress over the course of your training program.

Hopefully you guys start taking your training to the next level by adding these tips to your program immediately.

I guarantee you’ll notice a difference in those pecs in a few weeks.

Give it a shot and please give me your feedback by leaving a comment below or email me at chris@tutelatraining.com!

I would love to hear your thoughts.

If you dug this post please show me some love and click the share button below. It will truly mean the world to me.

Until next week,

Stay focused on your goals and train your asses off!

Chin-ups are one of the best exercises for packing on muscle and testing relative strength.

However, most people suck at them and never do them. Or, they think they are better than they actually are at performing the exercise and never truly reap the benefits.

I’m here to give you for quick tips on how to not suck at chin-ups anymore!

Aren’t you all damn lucky!

So, here we go!

1. Lose some body fat: If you aren’t great at chins or can’t do any, get your diet in check and drop some L-B’s. Fat is non-functional tissue that will slow you down in more ways than one. Chin-ups are one. So ditch the snickers and grab some broccoli.

2. Don’t go to failure: If your last rep looks like you are a 14 year old having his first orgasm, you are going to fry yourself out and actually lose strength. Always keep one CLEAN rep in the tank so your Central Nervous System can actually recover from the set. Remember quality, not quantity.

3. Use eccentric reps: If you can only do a few reps (1-5) use eccentrics to help build some lat strength and body control. The eccentric phase is the part of the rep that the muscle is lengthening, in this case, the way down. Grab the bar and hop to the top position so your chest is at the bar. From that point, begin slowly lowering yourself to full extension for a count of 3-5 seconds to get down. Do a few sets of 3-8 reps to start. If you cannot control yourself down for a slow count try using a band to help assist you.

4. Complete full repetitions: So many people destroy the chin-up. They usually jump to the bar on the first rep, lower themselves 1/2 way down and just bring the chin back up over the bar in the top position. That does nothing. Start by grabbing the bar with your hands about shoulder width apart. Start in a dead hang position (full extension of the shoulders and elbows) with legs straight or bent at the knees. Pull your shoulders down while keeping your back arched as you begin to pull, your chest should come all the way up and touch the bar in the top. With control (about 2 seconds) lower yourself back down to the starting position and repeat. Most people that say they can do 37 Chin-ups try them this way and only get about 4. Check your ego at the door and start doing them right. Then watch your results and progress sky rocket.

I Hope this helps guys. If you liked this post please hook a brother up and share on social media. It will truly mean the world to me.

Until next time friends,

Keep training hard!