Garage Gym Life Weekly May 4 - May 10

Garage Gym Life MAY 4 - MAY 10

WEEKLY

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR GAINS BUG PROOF YOUR GARAGE GYM

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MOTIVATION REVIEWS AND MERCH

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Morning Motivation from Instagram

Great training advice from @s__gross for runners who are trying to add a strength component to their training plan without disrupting their normal running workload. Give Stacey a follow @s__gross for extremely informative (and entertaining) running related content as well as some pretty neat ideas for organizing your training space (especially if you have a gazillion pairs of running shoes, you know who you are!) Just remember to say THANK YOU � for the DAILY DOSE OF MORNING MOTIVATION �

EQUIPMENT REVIEW

LIAMSTLIFE

GARAGE DOOR SCREEN

KEEP BUGS

OUT

photo credit: Juaquin Greaves

If you have a garage door, this Spring when you open it, you'll be joined by swarms of bugs looking for shade from the sun. Unfortunately, they'll find that shade inside your mouth when you get air to brace before a squat.

Shut all of that down, with a garage door screen. They're inexpensive and the brand I prefer lasts a long time plus has magnetic snaps in the center so you can walk in and out of the gym during training without having bugs swarm in through the open screen.

The brands I've tried take about 15 minutes to install and about five minutes to put up and take down before and after each workout. Or you could just leave it up. Be warned that they're not pet proof so it's probably best to put it away after each training session.

Cost varies depending on if it's a simple one car garage screen or a giant track mounted beast for a two car garage opening.

Watch the full review on

COVER STORY

USING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR GAINS Using social media as a tool to accelerate

your progress towards your goals is one of the biggest advantages that we have over lifters who lived before Instagram and TikTok. At the same time, social media can be a huge time vampire, sucking away your productive hours as you spiral down rabbit holes of funny dance memes and cat videos.

Too much time spent on Instagram especially can tempt you to compare your life to the tiny slice of life that you see posted from your favorite influencers.

Here’s how to use social media to help fuel growth while avoiding some common pitfalls.

DO USE IT FOR ACCOUNTABILITY

DON’T DO IT FOR CLOUT

Although Instagram is a great tool for accountability, I often see posts from people who say that they didn’t feel like training but decided to do it and post it anyway for accountability purposes.

That’s huge because it means that you have a perceived responsibility to your followers, whether you have twenty or twenty thousand to not miss workouts. That’s awesome for consistency which is one of the biggest indicators of success. So long as you keep showing up to train, you will see changes even if other aspects of your life aren’t 100% in order.

We all want more followers if we're on social media so there's a huge temptation to chase likes and comments by posting provocative and attention getting pictures and videos that can take away from training.

So create a training routine based on your goals, or hire a coach to create one for you.

Then tell your followers your goals and ask them to help keep you accountable for staying on plan.

You can partially reduce the tendency to make clout posts by following a well thought out training program especially if it's created for you by a coach. Most coaches want you to post your successes because it's good for their business.

But just like a coach won't want you maxing out every workout because it will stagnate progress they won't want you doing dangerous stunts to boost your social media clout or posting too many progress pics if it's starting to mess with your head.

If you have a goal you want to keep private, just send it as a DM to a controlled group who will check in with you periodically. continued on page 10

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everywhere you go

continued from page 8

DO USE IT FOR TRAINING IDEAS While sticking to a planned program is important, it’s also important to keep training fun and interesting. An easy way to keep training fresh is by doing fitness challenges from TikTok and/or Instagram.

Our daily Morning Motivation feed has a number of fitness challenges each week that you can save and do during your deload week or as a finisher after your normal training is done for the day.

You can also follow Instagram accounts like @vasilygrishchenkov,@rudi_mineur1967,@warriorchi ck,@renskyinsf and @liftwithhollyandarryn for simple fitness challenges that will challenge you enough to be interesting but that won’t destroy you the next day.

Which leads to the next point.

DON’T DISRUPT YOUR CURRENT TRAINING Because you’re using these for a mental break, it’s important to prioritize challenges that don’t take away from your ongoing training. For example, I’m in the middle of a powerbuilding phase so while I did the Broomstick challenge I wouldn’t do an endurance challenge like a long ruck, one of those kettlebell endurance challenges or even a 5k races whether virtual or IRL. The Broomstick challenge tests mobility but the load is extremely low, (I mean, it's a broomstick). A virtual or in real life 5k would dig into my recovery ability too much and interfere with my ability to stay on schedule.

The same thing goes for rucks of any length or any high rep kettlebell challenges. Again, not because they’re not good training, but because I need a certain training frequency and being out of commission because I destroyed myself on a ruck or took the skin off of my palms in a kettlebell snatch challenge.

That being said, if you’re invited to play golf with friends or play softball for the church league, yes go do it so long as you’re not working toward a goal with a specific end date.

Training should enhance your life, not take away from it.

Do Use It for Motivation I post a Morning Motivation post six days a week between 4-6 am to help my followers in the U.S. launch their day and give my followers in New Zealand and Australia, something to spark their excitement to train the next day.

These are great for me as well because I get to see these posts thereby motivating myself in the process. It’s great to see so many people around the world consistently working towards their goals and I love seeing people getting better, stronger, faster and healthier over time.

Don’t Check Social Media Near or During Training Checking Instagram once a day for motivation is a positive use of the platform that makes it a tool to spur growth. But you can’t let the progress of others discourage you if you’re not where you want to be. I run into the most trouble when I look at Instagram right before training. It’s also a bad idea for me to post my own training before my session is done.

In my case, I get a lot of DMs and comments on my posts which can distract me and cause the training session to not be as productive. Others find that seeing people with similar demographics who are in better shape can be discouraging. continued on page 13

Morning Motivation from Instagram

shoutout to @_jonathan_celis_ who murdered this PR at 305kg! Yup, that’s 672 freedom units on the bar and from the celebration you know how bad Jonathan’s wanted this weight! Love the passion my guy and I know you’ve got a TON left in the tank! Follow Jonathan’s iron journey @_jonathan_celis_ and tell Jona-thanos THANK YOU � for the DAILY DOSE OF MORNING MOTIVATION �

continued from previous page

It’s easy to say in a vacuum that we shouldn’t be jealous because we only see the 30-60 second highlight reels that people post on Instagram not the 1439 other minutes of their day that might not be as awe inspiring.

Still it's sometimes a buzzkill to see somebody else doing the Sam Cassell dance on Instagram about their 20lbs of fatloss when you've been pounding the treadmill and hitting the weights but the needle on your scale seems stuck.

Normally, it's not a huge issue for me but when I find myself losing focus, I block out my training time to minimize Instagram by simply avoiding checking Instagram right before training and I try to not post my own training until after the workout is over and I’m not in danger of being distracted by comments and DMs related or unrelated to the post.

If you need to know the particulars of a challenge it’s fine but otherwise, if you find yourself getting distracted easily, just avoid social media during and immediately before you train.

IF ALL ELSE FAILS TAKE A BREAK Despite our best efforts, sometimes, social media can be overwhelming.

At those times it’s okay to take a break. I do recommend that if you use social media for your business, that you either get someone to take it over while you take a sabbatical or simply let your followers know in a post that you’ll be taking a break and when they can expect you to return.

They’ll understand and probably be excited when you come back with fresh insights after your social media detox is over.

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Saturday, May 21, 2022

EQUIPMENT REVIEW

RELIFE

VERTICAL CLIMBER

TLDR If you need a compact cardio solution that's relatively quiet and easy us to use, check out my review of the Vertical Climber from RELIFE Sports.

RELIFE sent me a unit to review for our YouTube channel and I checked it out for ease of assembly, training applications and difficulty to maintain.

I was pleased overall with what I found although I had a few nits to pick with the product.

What It Is Ever climbed a ladder and thought to yourself, "Man! That was a great workout! If I could do that all of the time, I'd be in great shape!"

If you have, then vertical climbers are all your fault. Vertical climbers combine the best elements of stair climbers and add in the old cherry picking exercise from elementary school physical education classes to create a unique conditioning challenge.

Whole Body Training

Vertical climbers have been around since the 1980s with several brands creating their versions for the home workout market. The reason for their popularity is clear: they work.

“Exercise physiologist Christopher Travers, MS is quoted as saying, "The vertical climber is totally different than a bike or treadmill because you’re engaging your entire body.”

It Doesn't Take Much Because the movement uses your entire body, it won't take long to get a great workout, making it a great option for home gym owners who are strapped for time.

Is It Right For You? I think this unit works for anyone who needs to train without waking the rest of the household or anyone who needs a time efficient conditioning solution.

Watch the full review on YouTube

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