Hey everyone! I've asked us all to do an intro post, so here's mine! I'm Jarrod Schaefer, husband, father, coach, etc. My fitness goals now are a 600lb deadlift, 500lb squat, 405lb bench and 315lb press with visible abs! (one day lol) The one food I would punch a stranger for is pan-fried beef short ribs....

One of our new members @Marah Werner, a dear friend of my wife and I, has asked some wonderful questions that probably a lot of people who are considering biting the bullet of making health/fitness changes are also thinking about. This seems like a good opportunity to start answering and defining these issues and get the ball rolling for a lot of you! Q: What am I supposed to be doing in the gym? The equipment is confusing because I don't know what parts of my body I should be working on. A: This can be very scary. Most of the machines ARE designed to isolate one part of the body from another, but the good news is, even though these exercises are effective for certain goals, none of them are necessary for ANYBODY regardless of their fitness goal. For newbies, you shouldn't be concerned about any part of your body at all, actually. You should be concerned about your whole body! And a better way to think about picking exercises for your whole body is to think about MOVEMENTS. There's honestly only a few movement patterns that your body does on a daily basis: push, pull, squat, bend over, jump, walk, and twist. And it just so happens there is a piece of equipment that is perfectly designed to ergonomically and incrementally load all of these normal human movement patterns... the barbell! Honestly, if the only piece of equipment in the gym that you touch is the barbell, it will be more than enough. So to get comfortable in the gym, and it may take some time, its just going to be familiarizing yourself with the barbell lifts. And Ashley and I are more than happy to do this for you! MUCH more info to come on this. Q: Should I do cardio, strength-training or both? A: It depends on your goal and why you'd do any of it. If you were to put a gun to my head and ask me 'what is the single most important physical trait to improve for general fitness,' I would say 'strength.' It affects and improves every other aspect of your fitness, balance, endurance, bone health, EVEN CARDIO.

A lot of you are looking to get stronger, and a lot of you are looking to get leaner, and a lot of you want something else. I will be providing as much info and step by step instruction and support as possible! Please make your voices heard so I can help you as best as I can. However, a lot of you may not know WHERE to start or what your goals should look like. So, do this first: 1.) Weigh yourself, write it down 2.) Get a fabric tape measure and measure the circumference of the widest part of your waist, your chest, your hips, and write it down 3.) Take a picture of yourself in swimwear or underwear from the front, side and back 4.) Start writing down exactly what you're eating for every meal and in what quantities, if the box has servings, keep track of how many servings you are eating, if it doesn't, weigh it, and write it down 5.) Keep a journal of how you feel about your physical and mental health, how is your mood, your sleep, your body image, does anything hurt, etc Once you do these things you will get a very good idea of what you'd like it to be after you work on it for a while. Then bring those things to me and @Ashley Schaefer , either in the community chat, or privately in DMs, and we will get you setup! Step by steps for getting started in dieting and strength training coming soon!

I'm Ashley! Gosh my fitness goals change often. I'm currently in the midst of training for an 8k (happening this saturday woooo) but I am SO eager to get back under a barbell and start moving heavy weight. I've watched both of my grandmothers get put into nursing homes this year so you could say my goal is to stay strong enough to avoid that for as long as possible! Dense bones, strong muscles, good balance, etc. Of course I want to like the way I look and feel good too, but don't we all? I'm a big fan of pepperoni pizza and would probably punch a stranger for a really delicious looking slice lol that or a donut! Too bad gluten makes my joints hurt, though!

Welcome to the Tiger Strength Online Community! This is going to be the primary place where we will interact with our family members and friends that are trying to accomplish the same goal that we are, namely, to become effortless lean and effortlessly strong! If for some reason, you have found yourself in this group without learning about who I and my wife are, we are a happily married couple that has turned our life around through taking control of our health and fitness. We do this primarily through encouraging, educating, and coaching strength training and a species-appropriate human diet consisting of minimally processed foods. Between Ashley and I, we have coached over 1,100 people and growing. We don't claim to know everything, and in fact, one of the benefits of being in this group will be listening to conversations and debates between experts that don't agree on everything. We will also be developing courses and coaching programs that reflect what has worked for all of our clients in the past, and what we are learning and experimenting with right now. You can expect us to go live several times a week to answer questions, give form checks, and discuss the ideas we are all here to explore together. You can expect classes and courses that are specifically tailored to the goals of the group. You can expect books, workout programs, and research discussions as often as I can manage to produce them. Here is all we expect of you: 1. Introduce yourself! No wallflowers in this group please. 2. Interact as often as you can! The more you give, the more you will receive. 3. Be nice! We will deliberately discuss controversial topics in the realm of nutrition and fitness and we will disagree about things. There is nothing wrong with that, but there is something wrong with disrespecting someone for disagreeing with you. 4. Finally... ask questions! It is mine and Ashley's primary goal to provide value and service to everyone in this group. We can't read your mind, so please ask us any question you have, and we can either a.) answer it, b.) point you toward a useful resource or c.) develop that resource for you.