MORE ON COMBAT FITNESS - SIZE

Size! I get questions too about gaining size and getting B-I-G!! Listen...I came from the era of Weider and Bodybuilding and all those...."supplements". I trained to be BIG. I was into the BIG BENCH and at one time pressed over 300. But you know what....its not about size, its about being functional. When I reached 43 I began having all manner of nagging aches and pains in my joints. Surely this wasn't from the bench, deadlifts and squats!! So I did what most guys do...Train through the pain.The following winter I got pneumonia. Yuck. I'd be out of breath when walking to get a cup of coffee. Anyway...that Christmas, my lovely XO and brother-from-another-mother Cold War Scout conspired to buy me a Kettlebell and a DVD from Pavel Tsatsouline. As soon as my pneumonia went away I looked at the weird dumbell-cannonball thing and watched the DVD. Weirdeset thing I ever saw. But I tried it. I could barely get through a set of 25 swings! Wait! I'm supposed to be strong? That changed my outlook on training. Lesson Learned - Big and strong is not enough - functional strength is far more important than size!! Another learning moment was a Pride fight between Ernesto Hoost and Warren Sapp. Sap was huge...I mean 50 BMG T-Rex Huge. Muscles coming out of his eyeballs. Host is not a small man, but was dramatically smaller than Sapp. Yet Hoost managed to kick Sapp into not being able to continue. Lesson Learned - No Matter How Big You Are, There Is Either Someone Bigger, Or Someone Smaller Who Can Take You.Now with those two things on the table, this is how I answer:Your genetics will allow you to be only so big. Don't fight it and don't worry about it. Your fitness lot in life is far easier than the guy whose genetics make him a Sumo candidate. Eat well and often. Eat the same stuff as the overweight guys, but eat a little more. Train the same way until your body is used to it. Add kettlebells and bodyweight stuff. 50 Strict Pushups and 20 strict pullups should be your goal. Begin with one and add until you can't add anymore. Then cut the reps and add some weights in the form of weight vest. Add kettlebells and burpees.You may not end up as an IFBB Champ, but you will be able to fight and move and be a better warrior than if you drink the size koolaid.
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Gabe SuarezOne Source TacticalSuarez International USAChristian Warrior MinistriesMatthew 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.