The Law, New Quickness Programs And Some Sandler…

Alex Maroko

The Recap – Volume Deuce

1. I used to have lists for EVERYTHING.

There was a list for “Books I Need To Read”, “Place I Need To Travel”, “Things I Need To Do Today”…but the one I used to give the most attention to was “Daily Training Stuff That Needs To Be Done Everyday If I’m Going To Conquer All Of My Goals”.

It’s funny, if you were to go into my childhood room and were somehow aware of my super-secret hiding spots (hopefully not ALL of them though, ya dig?), you’d find stacks and stacks of different ideas of training activities I figured I had to do everyday for MAXIMAL results, most of which were added to the aforementioned list.

Some of those ideas were great and definitely SHOULD be done everyday; others were 3 miles past ridiculous and should never be spoken, written or thought about again.

BUT, going back that long ago all the way up to today, there are still some simple and totally beneficial things that YOU should be doing everyday for your own training goals. Try these:

1. Foam Rolling (or some other form of tissue release like a PVC pipe if you’re a badass like my 3rd favorite person in the world and fat-loss expert John Romaniello – pictured below)

2. Stretching and Mobilizing Your Tight Areas (for example, mine are my rectus femori and thoracic region and I have specific stretches I do everyday for them, just throughout the day)

3. Glute Activation (I’ve never met anyone whose glutes fired TOO well — do something to activate them everyday)

4. Ample Protein Intake (I normally recommend around 1.5 X your bodyweight in lbs. to find out how much protein in grams you should be taking daily…just make sure it’s at least 1 X your bodyweight for optimal results — this is big of course so long as the rest of your diet is already solid)

5. Something Fun (I’m of the belief that almost everything you do should be fun, but if you’re too busy taking everything seriously and not doing/saying something ridiculous at least once every single day, put a giant, stupid sly grin on your face and go have some fun at someone else’s expense now — not maliciously though of course, a simple “tap on the shoulder and then hide on the other side of them so they can’t see you” would more than suffice for now. We can talk about the big stuff laterz, like Ninja’s With Guitars.)

6. Focus On Your Breathing (deep, powerful breaths that you can feel in your diaphragm — in through your nose, out through your mouth)

Do a little bit of all of this stuff every single day, and watch how much more kick-ass your results get. And, nope, do you don’t need to be doing an hour of this stuff a day, a minute or two of each will go a LONG way for you.

So, ya know…get to it. Like now.

2. Hanging out with some buddies this week, we got into  a typically passionate argument about something really, truly important that was going to profoundly affect the REST of our lives: Is Adam Sandler funny?

Now, I could tell you a whole tantalizing story here about the hour we spent discussing the topic, the numerous trips made to IMDB.com to recap his entire film career and the gruesome fist-fight that ensued between us (BTW, 2 out of those 3 actually happened), but, nah, I won’t…I’ll simply answer the question for you:

No, Adam Sandler is not funny.

Some of his movies kinda are (Zohan specifically) and he has his moments where the stars seem to align for him and he finally connects hammer to nail, but, negative…A-Sandler = not funny.

3.  A while ago, I got into a really creative mood and decided I wanted to play around with some weird and strange “quickness combinations”.

WARNING: What follows below has NOT been tested enough for me to claim that it’ll work for you…proceed with caution.

Here’s what I knew: Quickness is one of those qualities that can be improved pretty damn quickly. But I wanted to find ways to do it even quicker (pun absolutely, positively intended).

So I put together a bunch of different training programs and started to test a lot of them out. They haven’t been tested enough for me to confidently say to you, “You need to do this. It WILL work for you.” but they have seemed to work really damn well so far.

So right now, I’m going to show you which one has worked the best out of the whole group so far, but again, I can’t promise you this is going to work for you (I also can’t promise it won’t work…there’s a VERY GOOD chance it actually will and will have you a TON quicker in just 7-10 days…let me know when it does). Here it is:

Day 1: Lateral Line Jumps 5 x 30 Jumps (that’s 30 total “ground contacts”)

Day 2: Lateral Line Jumps 6 x 30 Jumps

Day 3: Lateral Line Jumps 3 x 10 seconds (each set lasts 10 seconds…make sure you are going as HARD as you can for those 10 seconds of each set…try and beat the total number of jumps you got in the last set)

Day 4: Lateral Line Jumps 5 x 30 Jumps

Day 5: Lateral Line Jumps 6 x 30 Jumps

Day 6: Lateral Line Jumps 3 x 10 seconds (each set lasts 10 seconds…make sure you are going as HARD as you can for those 10 seconds of each set…try and beat the total number of jumps you got in the last set)

Day 7: OFF

(BTW, “Lateral Line Jumps” are simple and awesome. Find a line on the ground, stand on one side of it and jump back and forth over it repeatedly, as quickly as you rhythmically can)

And that’s it. Simple, right? But extremely effective.

You might want to take Day 8 OFF too…totally up to you. But using the power of high-frequency training and a new focus on high-quality work utilizing my personal favorite quickness exercise for anyone, this could have you SIGNIFICANTLY quicker just 7 days from NOW.

Give it a shot and let me know in the Comments Section how it works out for you.

4. A question I get a lot from athletes looking to both jump higher and run faster is this: Do I need to squat?

The answer: It’s complicated.

Like every relationship I’ve ever been in…the answer to “Should you squat?” is complicated. Also, like every relationship I’ve ever been in, the squat is awesome.

Here’s the deal: The squat is a great overall lower-body builder for several reasons.

It’s a major compound movement that recruits a ton of important muscle fibers, which will increase your neural drive, while also releasing more anabolic hormones into your blood stream, both of which will make your muscles bigger, stronger and more powerful.

If you want to jump higher, I’d recommend keeping the squat in your regimen.

If you look closely at the squat movement, you’ll notice that the up and down nature of it looks very similar to a vertical jump. That’s not just some coincidence to be ignored — it’s important.

And although movements shouldn’t be exactly specific in the weight room (a more specific exercise would simply be a weighted vertical jump), there’s definitely some merit to degrees of specificity, so for all the aspiring vertical leapers out there, stick with the squat.

If you’re looking for speed, then keeping the squat in your regimen isn’t quite as important. That being said, you still can’t go wrong squatting…there might just be some benefits to deadlifting instead.

For best results, if you’re looking to jump higher, do back squats for 2-4 sets of 4-6 repetitions twice a week.

If you’re looking for speed and acceleration, try either deadlifts or back squats for the same recommended volume ranges as above.

5. As you’re probably aware of, I sent out 27 million emails last week promoting a certain creatine I recently discovered and really liked called “Hyper Gain”. In response to all of those emails, I got a plethora of questions not just about creatine, but about supplements in general.

Putting it all together, I think the question you’re most interested in is “What supplements do I NEED to take as an athlete?”

I’ve always been a fan of keeping it simple, without making it simpler — meaning that there are ALWAYS going to be tons of awesome-sounding, brand new supplements coming out on the daily, but as long as you have these things below in your diet, you’re well on your way to awesomeness:

1. A Daily Multi-Vitamin – Anything basic that has all the important things in it is fine. I get mine from CVS for like 8 bucks.

2. Protein Supplement – Not necessary, but it’s hard for a lot of people to get the required amount of protein they need in their diet just from food…quick protein shakes make it a lot easier. Go for a whey protein that’s also low in sugar/carbs.

3. Fish Oil – Preferably not straight from the fish.

4. Sleep – Not a supplement, but so important, I’m putting it in here…8 hours a night, short naps when you can sneak ‘em in.

And those are the only things that are absolutely vital. If you want to take it a step further, here are some other things that can be beneficial:

* Vitamin C (1-3 grams a day)

* Creatine (specifically if you’re training for strength or size right now…here’s the one I recommend: Hyper Gain)

* Some pre-workout mental boost like L-Tyrosine or Caffeine (1-2 grams of L-Tyrosine 20-30 minutes before workout or around 100mg of caffeine 20-30 minutes before the workout)

6. I don’t really like laws or rules. I also don’t really like this juggernaut of a virus sweeping the country named “Ke$ha” buuuut, let’s re-focus…Again, I don’t really like laws or rules.

I speed. I prefer vulgarity over tastefulness. And I once caught and destroyed a rattle snake with my bare feet, saving myself and my girlfriend from serious danger (my hands were handcuffed at the time — totally her idea).

But for some reason, there’s one law that’s slipped into my life seamlessly, one that I’ve become very fond of: The Law of Attraction.

I’ve since found that it seems to mean a little something different to everyone, but at it’s rock-solid core, it comes down to this: Like attracts like; the things you think about are much more likely to be things you attract into your life.

I have no idea what this has to do with “The Law”…I just thought it was awesome that this dude has a ball of fire in his hand.

If you are constantly thinking about how broke you are, you’re probably broke.

If you’re constantly thinking about how hard your job or school is, it’s going to seem a lot harder than it actually is.

And if you’re constantly thinking about how you don’t want to turn the ball over against the pressure defense or drop the catch, then you’re much more likely to turn the ball over or drop the catch. Simple enough, right?

But there is an overwhelming abundance of athletes (and normal peepz) out there that think like that.

There’s a quick fix to it though..you ready? Lean in a little bit closer, this is kind of a big secret I don’t want everyone to know about it, ’cause then they’ll just implement it immediately to achieve all of their goals and dreams and do everything they ever set out to…

…THINK POSITIVE AND TAKE ACTION.

It’s not, “I hope I don’t miss this game-deciding jumpshot ,”…it’s “I wonder how many girls phone numbers I’ll get after I nail this game-winning 3-pointer.”

It’s not “My life sucks and I never meet cool people.”…it’s “My life AWESOME and I’m going to meet so many amazing people today.”

See the difference? It’s shocking what difference this can make in your life not only when you start thinking like it, but start believing and feeling it too. Do it.

Also, I did an interview with my hombre and Pro/Olympic Sports Psychologist Todd Herman not too long ago all about The Law of Attraction, how he uses it with his clients and how you as an athlete can you use it to completely TURN AROUND your sporting mindset, without any of the boring, wussy spiritual stuff you might find by just Googling “the law of attraction”.

I’ll gladly release that interview to you when we reach the Comment Quota (see #7 below). Speaking of…

7. It can be difficult for me sometimes to give you specifically what you want as a valued email subscriber of mine.

There are more than 20,074 people currently on my email subscriber list and while all of them are athletes, some want information and products on how to jump higher and run faster, while others are looking to build muscle/lost fat, while there are still others who want to learn how to eat and be healthier…that’s obviously a lot for me to try and cover sufficiently for everyone (and even though I may like to occasionally like to think of myself as perfect, I am well aware that…wait, nevermind, LOL, I still think I’m perfect). Anyways…

Here’s what I would really appreciate from you right now: Just scroll down to the Comments Section right below here and leave me a quick sentence or two telling me what type of information and products you’d want from me.

Jump higher?

More speed? Quickness?

Stretching and flexibility help?

Diet stuff?

How to get more dates? Be more awesome? Get away with debauchery?

Whatever info you’d prefer to get from  me, just let me know now below in the Comments Section and I’ll start getting you whatever it is YOU want, because, ya know…I am here to help YOU.

We need at least 30 Comments below, and once we reach that mark, I’ll gladly release that killer Law of Attraction interview with Todd.

Talk to you in the Comments Section below.

Be awesome,

Alex