Team MacDonald Fitness - Public Page

Looking to change things up a little?!⠀ ⠀ My goal of switching up to these kinds of exercises is to increase my motor unit recruitment within my body.⠀ ⠀ Why is this important? Let me provide an example. I'm learning that for a squat, it takes a conscious effort to focus on bracing, hinging your hips, engaging your glutes, quad, and hamstrings while going through a fluid motion.⠀ ⠀ Changing your exercises to contain variants of instability (the band pulling me from my center of gravity as well as the soft mats I'm standing on) will help your stabilizing muscles within your body but also teach you how to engage your core to maintain stability.⠀ ⠀ Holding weight above your head is ultimately more challenging than holding it in front of you. This is another variant that forces you to keep your core tight while at the same time learning to engage your lats and arms to keep the weight stable.⠀ ⠀ Oh, and then there's the lunge. Those are painful enough to begin with, right? These are progressions that can help you engage multiple sections of your body that you may not be used to working. I promise that once you learn to engage your core and do lunges in an unstable environment, a normal lunch is going to be a piece of cake.⠀ ⠀ Your brain is an incredibly important tool during exercise. You have to be in the game and thinking about what's going on in order to make a movement mean something. So when you get into the gym and have a hard time focusing, try an exercise like this that's going to force you to think about what you're doing. It should help!⠀ ⠀ P.S. sorry for the cut off video!⠀ ⠀ #athletictraining #motorrecruitment #muscles

First bald boy workout!⠀ ⠀ But seriously, I'm sticking to the plan. Flexibility and mobility training is of utmost importance for me right now and it's been helping my body feel a lot more loose and pain free. ⠀ ⠀ For my two main workouts, I worked on some deficit deadlifts and benching with controlled instability.⠀ ⠀ Deficit deadlifts used to tax my body because I feel like I wasn't able to get into my squat position as well as I would like, but I've been feeling better with them lately. Adding in a slight eccentric phase on the decline of the lift really helped the engagement of my hamstrings and glutes. I definitely felt it!⠀ ⠀ And then benching with 90lbs of weight suspended by bands. I know I showed this before, but I love doing these as they help me keep a fair tempo on my bench press and really make me focus on my mind/muscle connection. ⠀ ⠀ Remember, we all have goals in mind. But, make sure that when working out you're able to do so with good form and that you're feeling good. HEALTH IS WEALTH! Especially right now, so lets be taking care of ourselves out here.⠀ ⠀ What workouts did you start your week with?⠀ ⠀ #DeficitDeadlift #strength #mobility

Today this was about mental strength.⠀ ⠀ After I wrapped up my workout, I wanted to see how strong my mind was. I was doing some eccentric rack pulls, focusing strictly on my hamstrings and mimicking an RDL motion.⠀ ⠀ I thought to myself "I should do as many as I can and push myself."⠀ ⠀ So, I got to the bar, and repped out 16 before I got tired and was able to pump out two more. Then I thought "I've got two more in me." I proceeded to rep that out.⠀ ⠀ Was I satisfied getting 20 reps? Yeah, it felt good.⠀ ⠀ What I wasn't satisfied with was that I think I could have pulled out at least 3 or 4 more. ⠀ ⠀ Your brain is a powerful tool. When you put a limit on yourself in place, you will live within that limit. So, being able to practice something as little as repping out your absolute max on an exercise will help train your mind to push past barriers that you set for yourself.⠀ ⠀ "Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion" is one of my favorite quotes from Michael Jordan. Something I think about a lot.⠀ ⠀ Don't get me wrong, I have a looooooong way to go. But, the progression within lifting, fitness, and anything in personal and professional live starts within your own head. If you can find ways to challenge yourself to push past the limitations you set on you, then you're going to see a lot of development.⠀ ⠀ Now go out there and do something difficult today! I'd love to know which ways you all are challenging yourself to push past limits.⠀ ⠀ Happy Friday!⠀ ⠀ #limits #weightlifting #mindsetiskey

Adding in instability training again today. - I’m liking it a lot because it’s really forcing me to not rush through my movements and focus on my mind-muscle connection. - Today I did these with squats. Worked up to this as my top set. 185lbs of stable weight with 100lbs of unstable weight to give me 285lbs for a double. - I had done I think 5 sets at higher reps prior to this so I was a little taxed. But, it was awesome still! - I’ll be incorporating this more upcoming, especially if I feel I need a reset on my feel of my movements. - Hope you all worked on your goals today as well! - #powerlifting #squat #weighttraining

Controlled Instability. It's an oxymoron.⠀ ⠀ How do you control something that's unstable?⠀ ⠀ Well, in the case of fitness, it's creating an environment where there's instability within your movement. It's controlled because you have the ability to adapt the level of instability within a given movement. ⠀ ⠀ It has a ton of benefits and is seen as a prominent piece in some training models. If you're providing an unstable environment for you to complete a movement, you're forcing your body to use stabilizing muscles that wouldn't normally have to engage as much in a more controlled movement.⠀ ⠀ Case in point: bench press. Here I'm doing my best to mimic an elephant bar with a regular barbell. Putting weights on the end of the bar and having them hang on resistance bands created a lot of movement in the bar as I did my press. I was forced to take a decent tempo with my bench press because if I were to have lifted too fast, the bar would have been too unstable for me to continue with.⠀ ⠀ I did 5 sets of 8 reps. The total amount of weight on this press was 145lbs. Nothing too wild. Just enough to assure that I could get quality, controlled reps, while at the same time being challenged enough by the end of the set.⠀ ⠀ You could also use this same tactic on a squat to help with stability of that's a troubling lift for you.⠀ ⠀ Give it a try! I promise it'll be different than anything you've ever done if you've never tried this before!⠀ ⠀ #controlledinstability #nasmcpt #powerlifting

I was a little tired this morning when I woke up...⠀ ⠀ But for some reason, I felt great when I got to the gym and started squatting.⠀ ⠀ Little did I know I was going to feel good enough to work myself up to a squat number I haven't hit in years:⠀ ⠀ 380lbs!⠀ ⠀ Last time I was able to get this up was around 3 years ago. I was wanting to do a lifting meet, I was eating 5,300 calories a day, was miserably full all the time, weighted around 225lbs, but got super strong.⠀ ⠀ Fast forward to now... I'm working for personal challenge, I'm working as a slow, slow, deficit at 3,000 calories a day, and am weighing in at 209lbs. I'm not feeling exhausted every day, but I don't feel great every day. I'm not always motivated, but the discipline I have to be better is what pushes me through when there's days I don't feel like getting in work.⠀ ⠀ So, to sum it up: work hard, stay disciplined, maintain a goal, be consistent, and be patient. ⠀ ⠀ If you do that, you'll hit your goals. I'd bet on it.⠀ ⠀ Happy Tuesday and get out and work hard!! - #hardwork #poopface #squats #power

Happy Friday everyone!⠀ ⠀ Had a great workout this morning. I usually do volume on Thursday and Friday, but decided to go a little heavy today because I felt good.⠀ ⠀ I chose to do a variation of squats today and went with box squats. Now, the box that we have in the gym sits at 20 inches high at the lowest. Ideally I would have about 16 inches or so, but this had to do.⠀ ⠀ What I didn't like about this was that my range of motion wasn't parallel to the ground, which would have been ideal. ⠀ ⠀ Nonetheless, the lesser range of motion allowed for me to work my way up to 405lbs for 3 reps! I haven't put 405lbs on my back in a looooooong time, so it felt good to feel it again.⠀ ⠀ I also chose to add in some light bands as well because they help with stability. When I pull the weight off the rack, the bands are pulling backwards, which forces me to tighten myself up to remain stable with the bar on my back.⠀ ⠀ All in all, box squats for a quad-centric squat day and throwing in some bands to help with stability. I recommend trying it out next time you're in the gym!⠀ ⠀ Maintaining my strength has been tough with aiming to cut down and adding some more cardio into my routine as of late. Particularly when I do HIIT sessions. But, you've gotta push through the mental barrier of being tired to chase those goals.⠀ ⠀ Get out there and get at it today. Lets achieve!!⠀ ⠀ #boxsquats #powerlifting #power

Progression is the name of the game.⠀ ⠀ A few weeks ago I posted a video of me doing box jumps. I talked about how it's a favorite cardio exercise of mine, especially because it helps develop power. ⠀ ⠀ I also talked about how it's my goal to get to a 40" jump. I had a comment on there that encouraged me to try doing them from a standing start opposed to a running start as you gain more benefit in terms of power.⠀ ⠀ I decided to take that encouragement and take myself outside of my comfort zone.⠀ ⠀ See, I've never been an athlete. Never played organized sports (outside of 8th grade basketball for a really small school), nor did I do any weightlifting or anything of the sort growing up.⠀ ⠀ Well, this is where progression comes into play. Developing more athletic style training is helping me feel comfortable calling myself an athlete of sorts.⠀ ⠀ Today, I hit an important point for me. ⠀ ⠀ I was doing box jumps from a standing start with 33", which is what I've been using. I noticed that they were feeling easier and I was a lot more confident doing them. I then thought...⠀ ⠀ "I wonder how tall an extra 3 inches will make this feel?⠀ ⠀ So, I proceeded to take it up to 36" and here we are. Getting clean box jumps with 3 more inches than I expected. This may not seem like a big feat to some, but it means a lot to me.⠀ ⠀ It's a different kind of achievement from getting a 405lb deadlift for the first time or the first time I benched 315lbs.⠀ ⠀ So, long story short, go out there and get outside of your comfort zone. Incorporate new ways of training. You never know how you'll surprise yourself!⠀ ⠀ #boxjumps #athletictraining #power

Man, I felt great today!⠀ ⠀ Went in and did leg day and I don't think I've felt this good about my squats in a long time. This is definitely my weakest lift but I'm changing that.⠀ ⠀ Now, the weight itself is still pretty heavy for me. It's still a work in progress to get back to my pre-COVID strength, but, this is progress! That 405lb squat WILL happen.⠀ ⠀ Went in and did 6 sets of doubles at 275lbs for my main set today. ⠀ ⠀ If there's one thing that working out from home taught me, it's that I really have to find this connection with my muscle and the movement when I'm exercising them. In past videos you'll see me squatting fast, not bracing, and trying to move weight but not engage the muscle.⠀ ⠀ Well, that's changed and I think is why I'm feeling better with my movement. More focus on my mobility has given me the ability to achieve better depth as well. You'll see that My movements are slower and more calculated as I'm really trying to develop my body.⠀ ⠀ So, if you want tips, this is what I have to offer:⠀ ⠀ 1) Warm up! I'm not great at doing this consistently. But, a mixture of stretching and mobility work, even if for 5-10 minutes is going to take you a long, long way.⠀ ⠀ 2) Sit in a deep squat position to stretch. It'll get your body used to the positioning and will tell the story of where you need to loosen for safest form.⠀ ⠀ 3) Learn to brace. I didn't get this until recently. Fill your lungs, tighten your core, and don't let go through the movement. This is going to keep you tight throughout and will allow you to be stable through your movement.⠀ ⠀ 4) Close your eyes on your warmups. Feel the movement. I'm guilty of using a mirror to see what I'm doing. But, if your body can feel the movement and you can understand what it's like to feel engaged through your body for the entire rep, then you'll progress, which will help you on your bigger lifts. Half the battle of heavy lifting is overcoming mental battles.⠀ ⠀

Don’t be like Derek. - Cue up the blooper reel for this one! I was just trying to take a video to screenshot a waterfall drink of my post workout. - Well, you see how that went. - But, that doesn’t take away from the fact that you should be taking your post workout after each resistance workout! - My drink of choice? Phormula-1 and Ignition. It’s the perfect blend for me of a fast digesting carb to replenish your energy in your muscle tissue in Ignition. Couple that with an easily digestible isolate protein in Phormula-1 to feed yourself muscle tissue of the protein it needs to build up your muscle! - My suggestion? Don’t spill it like I did because it’s too delicious to waste!! - DM me if you’re interested in learning more about pre workout or you can check out the post workout stack my going through the link in my bio. It’s worth looking into I promise! - #postworkout #protein #carbs

Bands will make you.... STRONG!⠀ ⠀ One of my favorite movements to supplement my bench press are banded bench presses.⠀ ⠀ This movement works your entire chest region the whole time you're doing the movement. The bands keep a constant tension while you're working and add more "weight" to the top of your lift to help get that lockout strong.⠀ ⠀ The key to this is focusing the movement down on your chest and then exploding back up using force by digging your feet into the ground.⠀ ⠀ Notice in the movement how I bring the bar down in a controlled manner, I let the bar sit on my chest for a brief amount of time so I'm not relying on momentum to move the weight up, then you will see me push through my feet when I work to explode the weight back up.⠀ ⠀ These are definitely a progression exercise. You'll notice that I don't use a lot of weight on the bar and I don't have a lot of band tension on the bar, either. That's mainly because these are the only bands my gym has that I can stretch that far but you get the point!⠀ ⠀ Start with a light amount of weight. Get used to the tension that the bands produce because it will feel awkward.⠀ ⠀ I typically do these after my main bench session so I'm already a little taxed but have enough in the tank to put these up. Todays sets were 5 sets of 8 reps of banded bench presses.⠀ ⠀ What kind of chest accessory exercises do you enjoy? Tag me in a story if you try these out and I'll shout you out!⠀ ⠀ #benchpress #bandexercise #chestworkout

What’s my most satisfying form of cardio? - Box jumps! - Now, these are new to my routine again but every time I do them I remember how much I love them. - As a person who works on powerlifting exercises, the explosive style of this movement can only help my fast twitch muscle fibers while improving my endurance. - What I love most about these is that it’s easy to see progression. You either do more of the same height or you jump higher! - I do these with a running start. I’m not at a place to do static jumps. White boys can’t jump after all. 😉 - This is a 33” jump. My goal is to do these at 40”. I’ll keep working at it and get there before we know it! - What’s your favorite form of explosive cardio? I’m up to try new movements! - #iam1stphorm #boxjumps #explosivemovement