Purpose is a result, end, mean, aim, or goal of an action intentionally undertaken, or of an object being brought into use or existence, whether or not the purpose was a primary or secondary effect.

When you step foot in the gym, the field, the track… You better have a purpose and reason for being there!

I often see people who aimlessly move around the gym with no clear goal or end in sight, saying that they are simply in “maintenance” mode and don’t wish to push the limits any longer.

I respect that, but I also wonder why they even train. If you are in the gym, you are there to better yourself. There is no such thing as staying the same!!

I wanted to post this for many reasons. Over the last few months, I got so caught up with running my warehouse gym business that I let my own training sit on the shelf. I was training with NO purpose. After all, as a coach I preach this every day to my athletes and clients that you MUST shoot for something and you MUST get better every time you set foot in the gym. No excuses! If you don’t wish to get better, then you simply don’t belong and you are free to go train at Globo Gym down the street. No problem, this ain’t for everyone!

So, after a self-realization the other day that I was not committed to bettering myself 100% to the fullest, I sought out help. One of the large reasons I feel why my training has been so random is the what I have coined the “Lost-Athlete” syndrome. If you were involved in competitive athletics like I was for many years and trained your a*s off to get better for that sport (or sports), then you know how hard of a transition it can be from going from athlete to hanging it up. I had nothing to compete for any longer and I was LOST. Like I said, if you are a former athlete, you can relate with me on this. I was sick and tired of it and was not going to train aimlessly any longer. My playing days may be over, but the competitive drive never dies!!

I have always been a HUGE fan of Olympic Weightlifting and the benefits it can have for athletic performance, but never really have been instructed on how to do them properly. With personal bests of 231 lb clean and 177 lb snatch at a bodyweight of 185 lbs, my numbers are fairly decent but I knew I could do much better with good coaching and consistency; or training with a purpose!! My goals? To get as strong as possible in the Olympic Lifts (Clean and Jerk, Snatch), compete in meets, and learn the lifts and be able to instruct them as best as I can to better serve my athletes!!

So, I have invested in quality coaching and joined up with Myles Ahead Weightlifting in Ronhert Park, CA. I have begun training with Freddie Myles, a national caliber lifter, this past week and make the 1 hour (round trip) drive 3 days a week. I hope to compete this year in my first competition, so I’m very focused and driven. It feels good to train for something again! See the video below of Freddie with a 163 kg clean and jerk! That’s about 360 pounds… More than the average person can deadlift! Now that’s real strength and athleticism if you ask me!

I also believe in practicing what you preach, so as a coach I feel that being able to show my athletes that I can actually walk the walk  and not just spew some nonsense will pay off dividends in how they respond to me and how I approach their training programs.

The whole point of this post? Don’t be afraid to take risks! Have a CLEAR focus with your training. Write your goals down and be as specific as you can. You must have a laser-like focus and attack it every day. Like I’ve said before,  you’re either 1 step closer to your goal, or 1 step back.. No such thing as staying the same!

I would like to hear your thoughts on this. Have you felt like this before? Have you experienced the “Lost-Athlete” syndrome? Let’s help each other prevent this from happening! Leave your comments and thoughts below!

“How can I possibly get a good workout in when I go on vacation?”

“Will I lose my strength if I’m gone for a week?!”

These are some of the more common questions I receive, especially from athletes and regular trainees who are on the road q uite often.

If you travel enough and stay in hotels, you’ll notice that the typical “gyms” inside the hotel are pretty lame…

More than often you can find 1 or 2 treadmills, a set of dumbbells going no higher than 40 pounds, a bunch of TV’s, a couple machines, and a few other pieces of useless equipment. Sorry, just not my style to sit on a treadmill or machine.. To each his own though; if that’s what you enjoy, by all means..

But if you’re really looking to keep your muscle, strength, speed, and fitness levels high while traveling, here are a couple simple tips to help starve off boredom of regular hotel gyms, keep your workouts intense, and still allow you to enjoy your travels.

1. Invest In a Set of Resistance Bands. Not the typical surgical tubing bands you get from your local sporting goods stores, I’m talking about the heavy duty bands that actually give you some decent resistance. You can pick them up at EliteFTS.com at a pretty good price. Get a pair of each. The exercises you can perform are pretty much endless if you get creative enough – anything you can do with a cable/pulley machine you can do with bands: face pulls, band pull aparts, band good mornings, band rows, etc..
   
2. Learn to Love Unilateral Movements. Unilateral = training one limb at a time. More than likely there will be no squat/power rack at your hotel gym, so the next best option is to train 1 arm/leg at a time using dumbbells. If they aren’t heavy enough to challenge you, either up the total volume, perform timed intervals i.e. 45/15, 30/30, etc., or (even better) invest in a ketllebell. If you are driving, you could easily store this in your car and bring into the hotel gym when you want to train, or even better, go outdoors and bring a couple bands with you.
   
3. Get REALLY Good at Bodyweight Training. Bodyweight training is not done enough; pretty sad really, when most people have a rough time performing a few chin ups, bodyweight squats, or push ups without caving over. You can get an awesome training session in with a few basic bodyweight movements. Again, get creative, have fun, and enjoy the benefits of bodyweight training for strength, speed, and power.
   

BONUS: Here’s a simple travel workout you can do with minimal to no equipment:

1A.) Sprints 6-10 x 30-50 yards

2A.) Push Ups 3-4 x Max Reps

2B.) Pull Ups 3-4 x Max Reps

3A.) Swings (Use DB, KB, or homemade t-handle) 75 total reps

4A.) Band Pull Apart 4 x 25

4B.) Planks 4 x 60 seconds

As you can see, you really don’t need a whole lot of equipment to get the job done. Just the right attitude and mindset to get better!

Simple, right? I’d like to hear your comments below.. What are your favorite ways to train when you are traveling?! Remember, just because you’re on the road doesn’t mean you still can’t get a solid workout in!

See ya,

John Cortese

PS- I know that most of you by now have heard the Elliott Hulse and Mike Westerdal are about to release Lean Hybrid Muscle: Reloaded. This is GREAT news for you. Why? I have a SWEET hook-up for my blog subscribers when LHM launches next week! If you want in on this, be sure to sign up for the newsletter to hear more! I’ll have more details in the next few days, but in the meantime, be sure to “Like” this post and leave me your comments below!

I thought you may enjoy this special free report I made up! It’s titled “Advanced Recovery Techniques for Improved Speed and Strength!”

Many serious, dedicated, and driven athletes have already downloaded their copy, it’s cool to see!

I really like talking about this subject. The faster an athlete can recover, the better he/she will perform. On the field, weight room, court/track… This is even more important for elite athletes who are much faster and stronger than a novice athlete.

If more athletes placed as much emphasis on this as their actual training, the athlete will dominate their competition because they are not in a chronic state of fatigue.

I firmly believe that’s how many of my athletes have improved at the rate they are at CTS Strength & Conditioning because of the emphasis we place on keeping the training sessions relatively short (45-60 minutes), training up anywhere from 2-4 times per week (depending on the athlete, age, where there are at in their competitive season/off-season, etc), and being very patient and consistent! While we train hard, we also place large emphasis on recovery.

If you don’t take restoration and recovery seriously, your athletic careers’ potential may not be fulfilled to the max…

Not to worry though! Just click the link below to download your copy. No e-mails needed Just my way of sayin’ thanks!

Here’s a breif overview of the topics covered…

• Foam rolling
• Tempo runs
  
• Jump rope
• Medicine ball training
  
• Bodyweight training
• Contrast Therapy (hot/cold)
  

Download your Free Copy Here! <—- Get your copy here

Here

(Be sure to right click and save if you want to reference it for future use!)

Enjoy!

PS – Once you’ve read the report, be sure to hit the “Like” button and leave a comment below. We can get some awesome discussion going about recovery techniques and get into more details.. If we reach 25 comments, I’ll do a follow up video!

Bulking up and eating like crazy, to pack on serious mass, is one of the most controversial topics in bodybuilding today…

Some people say bulking is a thing of the past… others say it’s a necessary evil for serious gains, and insanely effective way to pack on serious mass.

Honestly, I am a firm believer that you can gain muscle without having to put much fat on. Yes, there will be some fat gain but you can keep it to a minimum while you aim to put on muscle/size.

This is pretty important, especially considering athletes who wish to put on more muscle without adding unnecessary body fat that could put a damper on their speed and power..

Speaking of that topic, you can download a couple of FREE reports that talk about this very subject from Vince Del Monte and Lee Hayward.

No e-mail address needed, just simply click the links below to get ‘em!

The Death of Bulking <—- Click to Download!

The Anabolic Amplifier Effect <—- Click to Download!

Let me know what you thought in the comments section below! What do you think? Can you gain muscle without fat, or is traditional bulking the way to go?

Been away from the blog for a short while, but I’m back! It’s been a busy couple months for me getting the gym up and running. It’s been a lot of work but fun and all worth it!

Group of athletes being taken through a hip mobility warm-up circuit!

I’ve attached a couple videos below to give you a glimpse of what’s happening lately at CTS Strength & Conditioning (my warehouse gym for training athletes) in Napa, CA.

Be sure to leave me a comment in the comments section, let me know what you think!

Thanks for your support! If you liked this post, be sure to press the Facebook “Like” button below! It helps spread the word!

- John Cortese, CSCS

I’m the type of guy that can get distracted easily. Most of the time I stay focused and attack my training, business, and everything else I’m caught up in with 100% intensity. I have to admit though – lately I have “fallen off the wagon” so to speak and really have not been as consistent with my own training as I usually am. I’ve been so busy training other athletes and clients that I neglected myself. I don’t have any excuses for it, it just so happened that way. I LOVE to train, but I don’t really like marathon sessions; especially when I have to focus on other business building tasks, keeping my girlfriend happy, hanging out with friends/family, etc.

Yes, there is a LIFE outside of the gym. I appreciate and value that more than anything, so the last thing I want to do is spend countless hours training. The fact of the matter is you can still get kick-ass results in a very short amount of time training per day (think 30-45 minute sessions!)

I recently picked up a copy of Jason Ferruggia’s latest product Minimalist Training and let me tell you – this was the product I’ve been looking for!

The minute I heard about it, I was very excited. I’ve been really interested lately in a minimalistic-style of living; eliminating all that is unnecessary in your life to allow freedom and a sense of relief while letting go of things that are not needed. And that includes training, personal possessions, nutrition, etc. I strongly adhere to keeping it simple and this book does exactly that!

Who is it for?

This is a GREAT resource for trainers and coaches who want to keep things simple and still get their athletes/clients results. There are programs for beginner, intermediate, and advanced lifters, so you’ve got all areas of the training spectrum covered! It really makes no sense trying to re-invent the wheel when you’re looking to get bigger and stronger. This manual lays it out for you in a simple and progressive way. All you have to do is execute!

This is also useful for the lifter who has “program A.D.D.” or someone who jumps from program to program hoping for a miracle in a short amount of time. Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way. This will eliminate any confusion you may have about designing a program for maximal gains without over-training, a very common mistake in new lifters who think doing more is better.

From programs ranging from “70′s Strength and Mass”, “Three the Hard Way”, and “Two for the Time”, you’re sure to never run out of options to keep your progress moving forward and ensure that you’re adhering to the KISS principle while maximizing your time in the weight room and giving you some breathing room in your life to do other things.

You’ll even get options on simple yet intense conditioning methods, so no stone is left unturned!

I mean, honestly – who really wants to spend 2-3 hours in the gym multiple times per week? I don’t, and neither should you! I plan on using this as a go-to resource for my own training as well as for my own athletes and clients that wish to get bigger, stronger, and faster.

The best part of all in my opinion is that the “sciencey” stuff is really kept to a minimum; just pure, no BS content that you can apply right away. It’s virtually impossible to over-analyze and over-think your training with this product in your arsenal!

As a strong proponent of Jason Ferruggia’s training methods and an avid reader/follower of his blog, I highly recommend picking up a copy of his latest product Minimalist Training to see how you can get awesome gains in strength and muscle without becoming a slave to your training.

Grab your copy of Minimalist Training now by clicking HERE!

Enjoy!

- John Cortese, CSCS

Corteseperformance.com

I’m in one of those moods now.. Yep, one of those moods where I feel the need to let it ALLLLL out.

Athletes: (HIGH SCHOOL Especially) Pay attention to this ENTIRE POST as this pertains to YOU!

I want to ask you a couple very serious questions, one that you need to dig deep and ask yourself this very instant…

HOW BAD DO YOU REALLY WANT IT?

ARE YOU WILLING TO COMMIT AND TRAIN HARDER THAN EVER TO BE THE GREATEST VERSION OF YOURSELF THAT YOU CAN BE?

ARE YOU WILLING TO PISS PEOPLE OFF BECAUSE YOU’RE “WORKING TOO HARD” OR “TOO SERIOUS” ABOUT GETTING BETTER?

If you really did answer these questions, and were very serious and honest with yourself, what did your answers tell you?

I ask you these questions because most people that say they want to get better are simply talking.. THAT’S IT. They don’t follow through, they don’t take ACTION on their words, and they don’t really want it THAT BAD after all.

I hear these little phrases all the time…

“I should be starting”

“I’ll get a scholarship to a D1 school, watch”

“Man, the coaches hate me that’s why I don’t play”

Guess what? No matter how much you THINK your excuses matter, they really DON’T. If you are unhappy with your situation, you have the power to change it. NO WAY, WHAT A MIRACLE; YOU MEAN I REALLY CAN CHANGE MYSELF AND GET BETTER BY POSSIBLY OUTWORKING MY COMPETITION? Hmmmm….  Yes, it’s a very simple process. Outwork your competition – I mean REALLY outwork them – and you will rise to the top.

• Not strong enough? Do something about it and get under the bar!

• Not fast enough? Sprint up a steep hill until you’re blue in the face!

• Not big enough? Eat more FOOD. Yes, food, not look for a miracle magic voodoo pill that claims to turn you into the hulk. (LAZINESS)

• Not sure where to start? Look for a competent coach that can guide you along the way!
  

Instead of whining, complaining, and b*tching about why your life sucks or FMLing every day to your buddies and sitting on your butt playing XBOX for 6 hours (the problem), be proactive and do everything in your power to make your goals a reality (the solution).

Because when it comes down to it…

Your excuse is not good enough.. Now go work your a*s off.

And thank me later.

- John Cortese, CSCS

Gotta deload properly.. Not like this though...

I received an e-mail the other day regarding proper deload principles and how to set it up efficiently to peak at the right time.

Q: How do you set up your deload weeks? (Sets, reps, etc.) and when would be a good time to test (max, 40, vert)?

- Stephen

Check out the video below where I do my best to answer Stephens’ questions as well as outline a fairly simple way to plan backwards in order to peak when it counts most!

PS – I apologize for the crappy camera angle and my constant rambling – had a little too much caffeine prior to filming haha!

Please post your questions, comments, and feedback in the comments section below!

WHAT’S GOIN DOWN!?

This is a follow up to Part 1 of the video I posted up last week. If you haven’t been able to check out Part 1 yet, you can do that by clicking HERE.

Check out part 2 of the video series from about a week ago about how to really develop the “freak” levels of speed and strength we all desire as athletes.

As always, be sure to leave a comment below if you have any questions or comments.

Later!

John Cortese

Been busy as a mofo lately, but I made up a cool 2-part video for you speed demons out there!

Part I is below, be sure to leave me a comment or question below. After watching this video, I came to at least 1 conclusion… I look TIRED haha. That’s what 4 – 5 hours of sleep a night for a while will do to ya!

Part II coming soon! Stay tuned…

See ya,

John Cortese, CSCS