Let’s Talk About Why

We need to have a really important conversation about why.

And if you care about your body, both in this moment and for the decades (if you're lucky) to come, you should read it and then seriously consider changing the way you move it if you haven't already.

If I were to go gather up all kinds of bodies that are doing all kinds of things and stand them next to each other and then ask you whose body looks the most capable, the most enticing, and overall, the best, I strongly suspect you'd choose the one who moves heavy weight around almost every day. And in no particular order, here's why:

1. It takes a MOUNTAIN of volume and intensity to get a body to actually change shape. You can diet your way into a smaller version of what you currently have, but if you don't like the SHAPE of your legs, butt, back, shoulders, pecs, etc, you won't like it any better when it's ten or twenty pounds smaller.

2. It takes lots of joints flexing and extending to move a barbell off the ground or over your head. Example: If I ask you to pick up a barbell that's on the ground in front of you, here's what you're going to have to do:

*Keep your spine straight. Which means every muscle in your back from your neck down to your tail bone will be contracted.

*Hip hinge. IE you'll need to stick your butt back and bend forward to reach the barbell. And now we're talkin. The largest muscle group in your body; your glutes and hamstrings, will go live.

*Knee flexion. Hello quads. Welcome. Let's play, shall we?

There's more. Abs engage (six-pack status initiated.) Ankle joints prepare to extend. I could go on and on.

The two or three seconds it takes to stand up with that barbell create a domino effect in your body that CANNOT BE REPLICATED with any other movement or method. And one million incredible, sexy, bad a$$ things begin to happen.

Because so many joints have been invited to play (out of necessity), your central nervous system is aroused. And that.... that right there...

Is. The. Game. Changer.

It provokes a hormone response. And those hormones are what give your body what it needs to grow.

And I probably just lost half my audience with that word, "grow". Let me clarify:

Men: You will look bigger and leaner. You have testosterone for days, which means your bodies want to be big.

Women: Calm down. Let your bodies GROW SOME FREAKING MUSCLE so that, over time, you will look lean and smaller. You don't have enough hormones to get bulky! Trust the process. More muscle means less body fat. Period. And less body fat means a smaller, more shapely version of your current body.

Grow that lean muscle and the body fat will begin to dissipate. You will have wiggle room in your diet. You will, over time, see all of your abs pop. Your cellulite will melt away.

And I swear to Buddha, you will have all of that without eating chicken and broccoli out of a Tupperware container.

The same thing happens when you squat clean, snatch, back squat, front squat, and jerk. But please take note: Every one of those movements requires you to bend your hips, knees and ankles.

If you train at Tribe, most days will be some version of those movements. I know sometimes you find it annoying.... "Coach, we've squatted twice this week already!" but that's because I'm not interested in wasting your time. If you are going to spend 45 minutes moving your body, you can bet your booty I'm gonna send you out of there with your whole being headed into repair mode. And that requires movements that work everything from the belly-button down OFTEN and A LOT.

Guys: This is just the tip of the iceberg. I could write a whole book about how heavy weight training will change your life, and not just your outer shell life.

Find a barbell. Let it work its magic. Let it change your life.