Meet Chad Howse--badass dude with some badass perspectives
Throughout the past year of having my site up and running I have run into some very cool people in the fitness industry.
And I have learned that as big as it may seem as a whole, the community within is quite small.
To put it bluntly–if you’re a dick, put out ludacris information or try to run your company as a straight up business where MONEY is the sole purpose—well, you’re going to get exposed.
On the other hand, there are many fitness enthusiasts who are more than willing to help you out–isn’t that what training and teaching is all about anyway?
Without further adieu, I bring you Chad Howse. Chad, like myself, understands the balanace of nutrition, living life to the fullest and building a badass body.
-MA
Meet Chad Howse…
How to Build A Body That Looks Awesome, Performs Amazing, and Will Stand The Tests Of Time
By Chad Howse
Building The Right Amount of Muscle
I’m all for building muscle. But I think people can take it a bit overboard sometimes. I have buddies – who will remain nameless – who started lifting weights because they wanted to impress girls. They accomplished that a while ago, but have taken things a bit too far.
Now, what are your thoughts on this? Do you think that the ideal physique is that of a pro-bodybuilder? Keeping in mind that the ideal body for a guy has more to do with what women want than what men think women want.
We all think that a girl wants to see massive amounts of muscle on their man – not true. Yes they want muscle, but they want it to be lean and athletic-looking (and performing) muscle. They also don’t want a toothpick. TRUST ME. I’ve been on that end of the spectrum and it’s not ideal by any means for catching the attention of ze ladies.
I was basically an afterthought when I was that skinny.
Looking Like You Can Kick Some Ass Ain’t Enough
Looking like you’re a badass who can handle himself is cool, but at some point in life you’re going to be called out on it. I mean that more from a performance standpoint than a fighting one. What I mean is that a body that looks awesome but can’t perform worth shit is good, but it isn’t great. And great is what we want – agree?
If you’re walking into the gym to build an “okay” body, more power to you, but you’re not going to be satisfied when you get there. If your goals are to build the best damn body you can possibly build, then here are a few things you’re going to have to think about:
1. Why are you training?
Athletes have awesome bodies because their success is directly related to how that body performs. The better shape they’re in, the more success they’ll see. The thing is, so are we! The better your body performs, the more energy you’ll have to work hard and play hard. The more confident you’ll be, the longer you’ll live and so on.
Walk into the gym with the mentality that your quality of life is on the line. Work your ass off – see more success. Take it easy – be prepared to fail.
2. You have to be able to do something with your body besides look in the mirror.
Girls like athletes. After all, athletes score – in more way than one. I already talked about training for performance, the thing is, that by training to improve your athleticism, you’re going to end up with a better body than you would otherwise.
The intensity, the focus, even the exercises performed when you’re training like an athlete build a better performing and better looking body (from a girl’s standpoint) than a simple bodybuilding routine might.
3. When you’re younger looks are everything.
I just wanted to get some damn attention when I walked into a party when I was in high school. But as you get older, things become a bit clearer. Enter: our health.
Having a body that looks awesome but kicks the bucket at 40 because of a preventable disease IS NOT ideal. I’m sure we all have people that we care about. We want to be there for them and we want to give them our absolute best self for as long as we live.
This brings me back to that quote from Mr. Lincoln: “it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” Well, by building a body that looks freaking awesome, performs amazing, and is healthy to boot – you’re achieving just that.
You’ll have more confidence to do anything and everything you want to do. You’ll have the athleticism to grab life by the balls and have your way with it. You’ll have more energy to experience all that this world has to offer. Plus, not only will building this body help you live a higher quality of life, but you’ll get a longer life too!
Now that you understand my philosophy on training:
How Do You Build This Thing?
I kind of alluded to it earlier, but you have to focus on improving your performance in your training. You have to challenge yourself in the gym to improve every time you’re in there. But you also have to train in a way that’ll help you build lean muscle, and get stronger and more powerful for a longer duration (ladies like guys who can last).
I’ve been using challenge-based workouts for a while, and they’ve done wonders for my physique in each of the aspects I just described. So, that’s what I’m going to give you (I gained 32 pounds of lean muscle in 32 weeks using these methods).
Do this workout – post how long it took you to do in the comments section.
Chad Howse Challenge
Do each of the following exercises for the allotted rep counts. Time yourself how long it takes to complete and that’s your score in the challenge.
Weights to use:
We’ll keep it standardized at 135 lbs for each exercise unless it’s a bodyweight exercise.
*If that weight it too much, drop each exercise to 95 lbs with a barbell. If it’s too light, up it to 225 lbs (add another plate).
1. Clean and Press – 30 reps
2. Deadlift – 30 reps
3. Chin-ups – 30 reps
4. Hanging leg raise (toes touch the bar) – 30 reps
5. Front squat – 30 reps
6. Yates Row – 30 reps
7. Bench Press – 30 reps
For more great info from Chad check out his blog at www.chadhowsefitness.com
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Try the challenge out and post your results…
How have YOU challenged yourself lately—no, slamming 2 sleeves of Oreos without a sip a milk doesn’t count—though that IS pretty impressive.
The post Building A Badass Body With Help from Chad Howse Fitness [Guest Blog] appeared first on Mike Arone Fitness.