Most thorough, good work
Men are humans; humans are animals, social animals, but animals none the less. And as animals we must embrace our finite existence and make it worthwhile. Every day is a challenge, a challenge to survive, but also to make improvements so that tomorrow will be brighter. Thus fostering relationships, defending others, conditioning our physical abilities, all lead to a better life the next day, and that next day will hold more challenges, but we will have learned from yesterday so it just becomes, as you stated, a never ending journey forward.

no I prefer on seperate days, that way I feel I can dedicate complete attention to each component. Thanks for the post.

Great suggestions on how to make SIMPLE = Effective
Sometimes people forget that fitness is not about complex programs and equipment- it is just about hard work, pushing the body to the point of adaptation, but not beyond systemic recovery abilities.

OF course this is THE REAL HARDY workout/ HAHA/ I mean no one can do the exact workout he did and expect same results-everyone is different and it was his full time job to workout for the role- so even if this was what he did it would not matter so people need to stop seeking some hollywood makebelieve fitness paradigm.

So do you do the finisher after the workout as implied, because in the article it says cardio on off days?

Catching a rare glimpse of intrinsic knowledge that we hold deep inside, that we allow to escape, and thus ground us once more into this flaunting existence we treasure. These deep stigmas we hold: we will die, those around us will die, and your body no matter how perfectly trained will fall to the mighty cancer warrior of time. These inescapables allow us to come back and take treasure over what we can control: our immediate health, our relationships with those close, and the positive actions we may take to others. In a place where face value and superficial become accepted as gospel it is nice you bring us around to our own selves. Maybe then we can get a little better?

I also do not work on alarms as I will always wake up before my alarm no matter what it is set at. I always seem to "know" when it is time to go. I seem to get up allot in the night though (waking getting up, sipping some h2o, then walking back to bed, I need more than 8hrs though, I can go with either no or little sleep but then when I have a set sleep I go for 8-10 hrs.
Another great tip: Melatonin in 3-10g before bed+ Zinc +magnesium +potassium + valerian root- all help your REM Circadian rhythms

I also always do pushups/planks/invert rows and stretching in the waking hour

Great article chad

Oh and on the stomach thing I too have noticed that, in my martial arts and in the service we sucked in our gut and braced it for impact all the time and we would do contraction exercises with impact to teach that constant tension. I often do about 3min a day of 3x1min butterfly kicks while having my abs hit.

Once again ,good points and very succinct.
You know me fairly well from being a challenge member, So for the DRIVE portion I tend to fall into the later description (coming back several times from neat death, told I can't walk, or lift, or sprint. Now I do it all again, and with your help hope to get back to my former level and then exceed them (Oh and even though I took a little training side track (more volume) from the first stage-your techniques have led me to be benching, squatting, and chinning at level not seen since injured several years ago, so thank you.
A purpose is very important to every man's reason for getting up in the morning; it is often not a tangible or quantifiable idea but an intrinsic quality that drives us to be what we see ourselves as (our own inner HERO)
If you give up on achieving that HERO burning deep within your psyche, (both mentally and physically) then you essentially give up on yourself-
I see it all the time in the Paramedic/rescue field-Those who are physically out of shape/ill/ and depressed- It seems that they have resigned to misery.

I agree Chad, it is great to hear some sane comments in this sometimes to muddled world. I hope it not inappropriate; but my end goal is to do as my old-man did for a while (take off- live completely off the land with only the sun rise and set as your clock and your thoughts the only Human noise. He did this for 6 years (after his degree and first career, then he met my mother, returned to society, had myself and siblings; sacrificed ,as you stated in the above, to serve family first, and now in his later years will one day return back to the wilds. He indeed is my inspiration and as you mentioned “who we helped is the greatest impact.”

"Perfection is unattainable, So please do not consume yourself with trying to achieve such a fleeting thing">
This is something my old-man used to tell me as I pushed to get a 4.2 from college, when I placed top in my Officer School Graduation both in education and fitness, when I went through the other training academies (BUDS+ 2 more degrees). He always reminded me that my perfection never mattered to him or anyone who really cared, he helped me set real tangible goals, and by doing that I ended up surpassing them.

I now see many people in the last glimpses of their lives-taking their last breathes, seeing that last ray of sun that has traveled through the celestial unknown just to bounce off their iris and enlighten them to the world. These people had goals, agendas, a purpose, and i don't know if they achieved them. But every time i see them at this time it reminds me to look intrinsically, track my purpose, and set my goals.

As socrates stated "the unexamined life is not worth living "

Chad, thanks for the reply- I am recomending this to my night paramedic class as we are often confronted with situations that require the above mentioned qualities.

Manliness, I am feeling that this often comes to just being a “nice guy”. Not to get too philosophical but as John Locke believed we are not born with innate characteristics, we learn and adapt to our life experiences. So if we are to be men we must act as others may learn from us. Like others have pointed out the next gen of men must be reminded that real qualities make the man.
I feel that one is a man when you can strip away everthing (all the money,cars,posessions, and status in society) who are they then - can they survive, can they teach others, will they keep true to their morals and beliefs? A man will stand alone to help others and not be afraid to ask for others to help them.

THE GOLDEN RULE=