My appreciation (in a nutshell)

So this might sound very corny but I was watching the Voice last night with my wife and I found myself getting very choked up by all the performers stories and the sacrifices and battles they had to fight just to get a chance. I started thinking about my music career with Bleeding Through and even before that with 18 Visions and Throwdown. What I was thinking about was there were these people that would give anything for the chance to perform on a stage in front of people and get there music out and share their emotional output with people. It was something so basic and so pure. They just wanted to be heard. I have had the privilege to share music with people all of the world and see amazing things and places. If it were not for music then I would have never meet my wife which if I could take I thing away from it would be enough for me 10x over. 

Watching that show really made me remember the sacrifice that I had to make to go for that dream and from day one to right now that dream was just to share with people and feel the release of all the things in my life that I was fighting. Insecurities, depression and worst of all social anxiety. Another thing I have learned from building the band from the ground up was to never give up or lose faith in myself and that has transcended into diving head first into another passion which is fitness. With out music I could have never gained the courage to start my own fitness company and open my own gym and share my ideals with people. Music helped sharper my focus to this new endeavor in my life. Most of all I wanted to write this for 2 reasons. To share with people my advice with people that even if you feel you are stuck in the mud it might just take two more steps to get yourself unstuck. Even if those two steps are the hardest steps you have to take it is worth the effort. Secondly I just wanted to thank all the people who have supported me as a person along with my bands and now my fitness company Rise Above Fitness. Most importantly my wife, my family and all the wonderful friends that I have made over the years. If you are taking the time to read this then you are one of these people in which I speak and I owe you my gratitude.

 

Now pick up a weight and do some damage

Brandan Schieppati

All together now

I want to talk about gym culture and the importance of it. A lot of people write to me saying things like “man I wish my gym played good music.” or “man I wish the workouts were that brutal at my gym.” Well if you are not satisfied with your gyms culture then fucking bail. Like Paul Rudd in Forgetting Sara Marshall said “when life hands you lemons say fuck the lemons and bail.” 

Better yet why don’t you be the one to set the culture and tempo in your gym? Be the example. To many times a gyms culture is stale and with that people just go through the motions. Be the one to light the fire. If you don’t like things and feel you are paying to much for a bullshit product then change it up. Or maybe you are paying to little. Everyone like to save a buck these days but money sometimes makes you accountable. If you are paying 13 bucks a month for 24 hour fitness I can understand not feeling a sense of urgency. You would be surprised how much an appointment with give you a kick in the ass. 

Bottom line life is to short and your health should be the most important thing to you and if your not happy stop complaining and change it up. Go to a new gym. Try different workouts. Get a personal trainer and stop complaining!

Brandan

Iron will

Sometimes certain things go over looked when it comes to a weight room. A lot of people just think that the weight room is for pushing numbers and making gains. Now I do agree with a lot but that I feel is just the beginning. My belief is that it all starts in the weight room and not just for your sport or for getting “ripped”. This is for life and to better your life. Creating goals in the weight room and smashing through them and intern that will help you gain the strength and courage to smash through goals that you have in everyday life. Was your day shitty? Then kill that feeling in the gym and release those feelings. Listen to kick ass music and get to work! For sports and athlete development it truly does start in the gym. Having you teammates back in the weight room when you are going through a tough workout is comparable to having you friends back in life. It’s all about that culture in your gym and the process of belief in your teammates, friends and trainers. Cut the bullshit and go to work and have each others back. Don’t have that feeling when you go to your gym? Then it’s time to find another gym! RISE ABOVE. 

Brandan

Info@riseabovefitnessoc.com

who gives a scientific @#$%!!!!!

So a while back I wrote something on the Rise Above Facebook regarding a workout that we did. I recieved a comment/question (from a so called trainer) that read “what is the scientific reasoning behind this workout?”. Needless to say I didnt leave the comment on the board. I was going to just reply to him and post “who fucking cares what it is”. Instead I just said out loud to myself. Look I studied that same anatomy as other trainers and I understand that there is a science to fitness but lets face it sometimes you just want to do programs that are just balls to the wall cause you like it and it makes you feel accomplished.

Now I surf some of the popular fitness websites and forums and read a lot of what people have to offer cause in this business you can never read to much! Or can you? I think lately there is to much information(ego) out there. People boasting that what they say is correct because of SCIENCE!!!!!! WOW!!!! trainer X you are so smart and use words that I can’t spell (I almost misspelt spell) so you must be the be all, end all. Nevermind that you yourself look like shit and I would never want your body. You read more books. You must be the shit!

During this journey of mine through the magical forest of fitness I have come across people who admire and people I don’t. People whose programs and philosophies I like and people I don’t. I have also realised that there is a major lack of personality in the industry and 10000000000000 scientific reasons for executing a certain lift or tempo or rest period. With so many theories I all sort of goes in the wash together. The best is when I see people on forums that argue their scientific or non scientific with each other. It’s like religion for meatheads! It can go on for days and days and years. NO one is wrong and NO one is right. People have their views and that’s that. In closing I feel the best way to defend yourself from the battlefield of knowledge is to find programs and philosophies that work for you. Try things out. If it doesn’t work then try something different. It’s like buying a car. Take that shit for a test drive and see if you like it yourself. Don’t keep that car long-term if it keeps breaking down. Find what works stick to it and evolve with it. If you hit a road block then mix it up.

 

If you think I am wrong than you are right. Guess what? So are you! Lets all just hold hands and skip down the street and be wrong together. It’s called Belief!

Brandan

Find Your Focus

I feel that when it comes to working out there is soo much info out there. Do this, rest for this, eat this, take that. There are so many ideas out there it can be very overwhelming. Today my point is that we should make decisions in the gym that we can live with, workouts that we can be proud of. Brandan has been saying all week, “Keep it real, keep it simple” And he’s fucking right. Forget what media tells you and how many different articles you read about what to do in the gym. When it comes to the gym do what makes you feel proud of yourself. Create a goal, smash that goal, and then set the bar higher. Find something to focus on, because with all the bullshit thats out there, you may need a shovel to dig yourself out to find what it is you really want out of your workouts.

and listen to metal everyday…
- <3, Nurse Dana

Shhh

Stop complaining! If your in the gym and whining get the fuck out! I’m doing exactly what i’m here for, to kick your butt! Don’t tell me no, suck it up and do it! Im not going to neogiate. And please don’t tell me that you ate an entire pizza last night, I won’t feel sorry for you. At all. You are what you eat, so be good to yourself and listen to Slayer everyday.

- <3 Nurse Dana

All you’s is welcome!

When I started down this journey of fitness I envisioned working with gnarly people who were pushing serious weight and giving their blood, sweat and tears in the gym. Now although I do have my fair share of these type of clients I also have your everyday normal person that just wants to get in really good shape. They aren’t training for any specific sport or race or anything like that. They are training for life. So they can feel good about them selves and set personal goals that I help them shatter. Now this industry is riddled with ego. To many people who feel this industry owes them something for their service. Some of the people who I have learned/interned with had these ego’s and I got to learn what and what not to do in this industry to try to inspire people cause really that is all this is about. Writing good programs, teaching good form and inspiring people to do things they never thought possible. That goes for every type of client. With that being said I’ll get to my damn point before I ramble on more.

One thing that is engraved in my brain is someone who I used to look up to in this industry saying to me “I don’t want to train fat people and especially don’t want to have my gym be a mom gym”. That is one thing that has stuck and helped build my philosophy. That philosophy is I don’t give a fuck who you are, what sport you play, how fat you are or how many kids you have pumped out of you. If you came to me ready to work I’ll get you where you need to get and then passed that. Now that I have my own gym that has come true. Anyone that has been in my gym will attest to that. I have Athletes working out along side your many levels of men and women and it makes for a great environment.

I’ll tell you what I get stoked about. Seeing a mother of two doing proper olympic squats and getting off on the fact that she put up over 100lbs. Seeing a guy that used to be over weight and now can do unassisted pull ups. I get off on trying to turn people into machines and changing their mindset from a need to a want and then back to a NEED to get to the gym mindset. Everyone deserves to be challenged if they are up for it. No matter if they have 10 kids, weigh 6000000 pounds or aren’t an “ELITE ATHLETE”. A big fuck you to the people who tried to sell me their elitist bullshit advice when I was getting into this game. I’ll take those “fat people” and “mom’s” all day long and try my hardest to make them impressive.

If you are reading this and don’t agree with me that is perfectly fine but……. Fuck you too.

RISE ABOVE!

Brandan