| By Anthony Tiller
Two years ago my family went camping at Kerr Lake in North Carolina for a family reunion. It was great to see family we have not seen in such a long time. It was also great to spend time with my wife Amy, our twins Aleck and Emma Grace, and our youngest daughter Ella. It is very important for me to spend time with them because they teach me so much about life. The lesson I learned during this trip is the lesson I feel blessed to be able to share with you.
As I grabbed up all the fishing gear, I noticed Aleck (7 years old at the time) standing on the edge of the water not following us. I stood for a moment as the sun was setting and watched the little boy in his own little world, not even noticing we were all leaving. I thought to myself, "Gee it's as if I'm with the Ghost of Christmas Past in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, looking at myself as a young boy, wondering where time had gone.” He was picking up rocks and throwing them in the water. He seemed a little frustrated and then I figured out he was trying to skip them across the surface. I put the fishing gear down and walked over to him. "Aww cool. Trying to skip rocks?" I asked. "Yep” he answered. I picked up a rock and zinged it across the lake's glassy surface. It skipped four times. "Daaad!!! That was awesome! How did you do that?" Aleck said. And so being a proud Father, I taught him everything I know about skipping rocks… Arm position, foot position, trajectory, wind speed, wind resistance, and even how to deal with heckling (should it occur). I taught him everything he possibly needed to know to become an expert rock skipper with enough knowledge to pass down to his own kids. Aleck picked up a rock and threw it….one splash…he tried another…kerr plop… one splash…picked another and threw…kaaa plooosh…one splash…not one single skip. I thought “How in the world can this kid not skip a rock now? Did his Aunt Jenay rub off on him some way? Did he catch her disease – inabilitytowalkandchewgumatthesametimeitis?" I taught him everything I knew…I thought. Then I watched him from the beginning. I watched him pick up a rock without even looking down and throw it with perfect rock skipping mechanics. And in that moment, my new life lesson was gifted to me. As Aleck readied his next throw, I stopped him, grabbed his hand and uncurled his clay coated little fingers holding the rock. Just as I suspected, he held a lumpy, round, jaggedy edged rock. "I'm so sorry Big A." I said. He looked up at me with a confused face. "I forgot to tell you the most important step in rock skipping. You MUST CHOOSE the right rock." I said. We went over how important it is to take the time to search out a smooth flat rock. And with that, Aleck became one of Kerr Lake's best, all-time champion, mac daddy, rock skippers. You MUST CHOOSE the right rock. We must choose the training and nutrition programming that optimally pushes us into achieving our goals. This lesson is applicable to so many areas of our lives. As a Strength Coach, I see this every day in the exercise world. Many people come to me struggling with what they perceive as “ultimate failure” in reaching a fitness or sports training goal. What I find to be true is most of these people have skipped one or more very important steps in the pursuit of their goal(s). Strength Coaches use what is called a Needs Analysis when we design strength and conditioning programs. In the Needs Analysis we take a look at the sport and goal(s) in an effort to determine energy systems used, metabolic demands, physiological profiles, movement patterns, training time required, along with many other factors having to do with the make-up of the athlete/client.
If you are not making progress in your fitness plan, you must stop and ask yourself, “What step(s) am I forgetting, lacking knowledge of, or ignoring when trying to achieve my desire, goal, or task?” For example: A person can research, perform, and stick to a perfectly designed training program, and never achieve desired results. Why? Usually because the person does not take the time to choose the "right rock"(a plan that matches an individualized nutritional pattern to the training program). On the other hand, a person may be making all kinds of nutritional adjustments, but their workout plan is incorrect or they are not training at all. Another example is the plethora of ads and/or testimonies we hear and see about diets, pills, powders, and surgeries we MUST buy in an effort to accomplish fat loss….WITHOUT EXERCISE. To be honest, many of the people buying the “miracle magic pill” are people who typically don't even want to get out of their chairs to look for a rock in the first place. Exercise is a pretty important step. All of these examples can be made better or even fixed if we take the time to stop and pick out the “right rock”. We must choose the training and nutrition programming that optimally pushes us into achieving our goal(s). Establish very clear and specific goals. The way to ensure you are picking up the “right rock” when starting an exercise program is establish very clear and specific goals. Then make sure everything you do is a step to get you closer to that goal.
My program will certainly change throughout the contest prep depending on body fat %, strength loss, mental fatigue, body part emphasis, life circumstances, macronutrient settings, and other factors, but the program will always use the principles of overload and progression.
Now think about this: In our personal lives, how often do we overlook a critical step? How often do we hustle and bustle about and think we are doing all we need to do? How often do we struggle and curse others for accomplishing what we cannot? How often do we pray asking for help and even TELL God what we need and how He can make our lives better?
“Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.” – Isaiah 55:3 We have to stop talking…and start listening. God speaks to us when we’re skipping steps. He wants us to hear His guiding wisdom when we are stuck not knowing what to do or which way to move. The problem is we are TALKING. We must shut down our minds and close our mouths to hear the gentle whisper from God that provides peace, comfort, strength, hope, and direction. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” – Jeremiah 1:5 Guess what the above scripture means? The Needs Analysis is done. God knows every need, every demand, and every detail in our lives. He has our plan and it is optimal. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not upon your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” – Proverbs 3:5-6 It isn’t easy when we have to live outside our own understanding. Trusting God helps us to NOT skip steps, make bad decisions, or choose incorrectly when we become confused, bogged down, weary, hurt, exhausted, and fearful. If we are quiet and still…and we LISTEN, God will help us “pick the right rock.” In a relationship you're trying to save, the missing step or "right rock" may be finally TRULY forgiving someone. It may be forgiving yourself. It may be saying "I love you". It may mean actually loving yourself for the first time in a long time. It may be the cessation of enabling another. It may be saying no. It may be fixing your schedule…your life…so you're not moving through each and every day like a tornado. It may be accepting someone just the way they are instead of trying to change them into who you want them to be. The missing step or "right rock" may be spending more time with your child or children and figuring out who they are, what they need, what they like, and what they fear instead of allowing an "expert" or someone else to tell you. If it is a tragedy you're trying to accept and get over, it may be a simple prayer that brings you comfort. God will help you pick the “right rock” because he knows exactly what you need and He wants you to hear Him. “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” – Exodus 14:14 That's all. Pretty simple right? I can tell you I plan on doing this myself, in my own life, and I know it will be painful, confusing, and frustrating, but when I remember and hear in my mind the joy and laughter coming from my son as he put all the steps together to create a magical moment, I know…I know with all my heart…with God guiding and fighting for me…it is and will be worth uncurling my own fingers. |
THE "RIGHT ROCK" SAMPLE WORKOUT MONDAY: Chest/Triceps/Abs – Cardio=HIIT(High Intensity Interval Training) 20min, Bench Press – 4 x 6-8, Incline Press – 4 x 6-8, Incline Flyes – 3 x 8-10, Cable Crossover – 3 x 10-12, Close Grip Triceps Press – 4 x 6-8, Lying Triceps Extension (Nosebreakers/Skullcrushers) 4 x 6-8, Triceps Pressdowns – 3 x 10-12, Cable crunches superset with ab slings – 3 x15 TUESDAY: Back/Biceps – Cardio =20-30 min. LISS(low intensity steady state/slight intervals), Bar Bent-Over Rows – 4 x 6-8, Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns – 4 x 6-8, Reverse Grip Lat Pulldowns – 3 x 8-10, Seated Row – 3 x 8-12, Dumbbell Pullovers – 3 x 8-10, Bar Curls – 4 x 6-8, Preacher Curls – 3 x 8-10, Seated Incline Curls – 3 x 8-10 WEDNESDAY: Off – Cardio = HIIT– 20minutes THURSDAY: Shoulders/Abs – Cardio(if needed) LISS- 30minutes, Overhead Bar, Shoulder Press – 4 x 6-8, Upright Rows – 3 x 8-10, Dumbbell Lateral Raises – 4 x 8-10, Bent Over Raises – 3 x 8-10, Shrugs – 4 x 10-12, V-Ups superset with Plank – 3 x 45 seconds FRIDAY: Legs – Cardio(if needed) = HIIT or LISS – 20 minutes, Squat – 5 x 6-8, Leg Press – 4 x 8-10, Walking Lunges – 4 x 10 down & back, Split Squats – 3 x 12 each leg, Straight Leg Deadlifts – 4 x 10, Leg Extension superset w/ Leg Curl – 4 x 12, Calf Raises(single leg) – 4 x failure
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I met Anthony over 20 years ago, when we were undergrads together at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. This article is a reminder for me of how God has brought so many amazing people into my life. We were good friends in college, but now my level of respect for Anthony as a coach, father, Christian, and now writer, take that relationship to a new height. He has provided wisdom here that I hope you will continue to read and pray on for many years to come. Thank you, Big A, for your contribution to Faith & Fitness Magazine this month, and I hope this is just the first of many future articles! RESOURCES TO HELP YOU STOP TALKING AND LISTEN TO GOD
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QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL REFLECTION AND GROUP DISCUSSION 1. Anthony suggests that “if you are not making progress in your fitness plan, you must stop and ask yourself, ‘What step(s) am I forgetting, lacking knowledge of, or ignoring when trying to achieve my desire, goal, or task?’” Have you ever done this? 2. He continues, “The way to ensure you are picking up the “right rock” when starting an exercise program is establish very clear and specific goals.” All of the top coaches suggest this, but it is often never done. Why? 3. Anthony describes an average training cycle that includes 5 days of activities. If your goal and “rock” dictated that you need to train 5 days a week, could you make it happen? Could you get up early or get to the gym late to make it happen? 4. Your nutrition “rock” has to line-up with your training “rock”. How close are they now? What one action step would get them to line-up? 5. Have you tried listening more in your prayer life instead of talking? Maybe all of the words have been spoken, and God is waiting for it to be his turn to speak. Are you ready to listen? |
Stop Talking And Loosen Your Grip!
Ella (4 years old at the time) sat on the sand digging in the bait bucket and letting worms crawl in, out, and between her fingers as if they were racing on an agility course. Emma Grace and her cousin Hayley, long over the thrill of fishing, were making giant mud balls and throwing them in the water…and on our feet. My older sister, Jenay, was trying her shot at casting and catching a fish. She couldn't get the line to cast out an inch past her toes and caused all of us to duck for our lives as a bobber and hook zipped past our heads every try (yes I have it on video). Amy and my younger sister, Annette, were packing up and eventually everyone started heading back to the campsite.
This provides the Strength Coach with vital information needed in the design of an optimal individualized training program. Basically, we make sure we choose the “right rock”. We don’t skip any steps.
As a bodybuilder coming into a contest, my goal is to keep as much muscle and lose as much fat as I can throughout the preparation phase. That means I pass over the steps…the rocks…that may have me training like a marathon runner, crossfitter, mma fighter, football player, or any other rock that does not optimally lead me to what I am judged on in a bodybuilding contest (symmetry, muscularity, definition, proportion, and stage presence).
This means exercises may vary and rep schemes may change. Volume and frequency may change. Cardio may be taken away or added. But you can always be assured I’m purposefully looking for the rocks that fit my goal. It also means I will perform these exercises with maximum time under tension and with complete range of motion. Rest periods between sets will vary, usually somewhere between 40 seconds to as long as 2 minutes. If you looked at a snapshot of a phase of my training it may look like this for 3-4 weeks. (See The "
We have our goals and we can’t figure out why we aren’t even close to reaching them. We have our plan but can’t seem to execute it and it doesn’t make sense because after all we go to church every Sunday. We have our path but it continues to be so rough and even dead ends but that can’t be right because we do “good” things. It is so clear in our minds as we sprint to where we should be, but in the real world it is so foggy we can’t crawl another step. What in the world is going on? We TALK to God every day…about everything. Here is an idea: STOP TALKING!
You may be somewhere in your life right now where you think you're doing everything you need to do…and it just isn't working. You're throwing rock after rock after rock after rock…and only getting one splash. I'm telling you to stop…be quiet…listen to God who is fighting for you…uncurl your fingers…and make sure you are holding the right rock.
