Black Ox Spotlight: Brad

Name: Brad

Age: 18

Sport: Football, Track, Powerlifting

Height: 5'6

Weight: 195

Best Lifts

Bench: 405

Squat: 500

Deadlift: 500

Clean: 315

Ox: Alright Brad, from the beginning, what sports did you play growing up?

Brad: I played baseball from first grade to sixth grade. I started playing football in eighth grade. I ran track and won the city championships for 110 hurdles in the 8th grade.

Ox: About how big were you back then?

Brad: About 110lbs.

Ox: Did you play any sports in high school?

Brad: Yea, I played football in ninth grade and twelfth grade and ran the 4x100 and 4x200 in twelfth grade.

12th grade - 165lbs

Ox: When did you get serious about lifting?

Brad: Tenth grade. I started competing with my smaller friends and then every year I'd set the goals a little higher and started competing with my bigger friends. Every year I was beating who I wanted to compete with. Then in 10th grade we had to move and I was living by myself because my parents worked a lot and we had this 24 hour gym so I would go down there and lift at like midnight or one o' clock in the morning. That's how I took out my stress.

Brad glides to the gym

Ox: What else are you doing with yourself right now?

Brad: Nothing. Just eating, sleeping and playing video games [laughs].

Ox: What's your favorite game?

Brad: I've been playing a lot of Halo.

500lb wheels

Ox: Any future goals to compete?

Brad: Maybe bodybuilding in five or ten years. Right now I just like throwing around weights. I wouldn't mind bodybuilding but I don't want to diet [laughs]. I don't care what I'm doing as long as I'm making enough money to eat and have a gym membership.

Sounds good!

Brad doesn't like his "small arms"

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If you know a young athlete who should get a Black Ox Spotlight leave a comment or send an email to blackoxtraining@gmail.com

18 Years Old - Stronger Than You

Lately, I've seen a staggering amount of teenage boys come up with excuses for why they aren't bigger, stronger and better athletes. After 5 years of being around the young studs of the sports world, I'm calling this uptick in estrogen filled whining the 'twilight effect'.

It appears that some teenage boys get sucked into the mainstream media's ideal of athletism and think that if they are bigger than 5'10, 135lb Zac Efron then they are HYUUUGE!

Not making varsity at real world high schools.

Frankly, we here at Black Ox have heard enough and felt that some dedicated young athletes should be brought into the limelight. Starting this month Black Ox will be featuring real athletes - 18 years or younger - who take training seriously and have the physique and skills to show for it.

Our first spotlight will be Brad, an 18 year old from Columbus, Ohio.

Next week, we'll talk to Brad about his training, diet and motivation for getting so strong at such a young age.

If you know a young athlete who should be featured, shoot an email to blackoxtraining@gmail.com with a picture and a short explanation of what makes them special.

Ask the Ox: #1 - What is the best cardio for fat loss?

Q: For less conditioned people like myself, do you advise against doing "cardio" (such as a stupid machine) for 30- 40 min after weight training? It seems i've read quite often that one should keep them on separate sessions-or do some quick HIIT instead of long SS cardio.

A: Cardio is for your heart..sometimes we forget that. Cardio is great and important for heart health and conditioning.

Now using SS cardio for fat loss is inefficient for some people. These people would be athletes and people who are already lean and in good shape. If this is you, you would be correct to do HIIT/intervals or something similar.

Then again, writers and "experts" swing so far to one end following trends that they forget to whom they are speaking. The average person WILL lose fat on SS cardio. The average person can't put out the effort to do real HIGH INTENSITY interval training anyway. They can run intervals but they won't burn nearly as many calories as they would have if they had just done the stair climber for 45 minutes.

If you're unconditioned like you say then any kind of SS cardio would probably help you lose fat. Run 2 miles 3 times a week and tell me you're not going to lose fat..see what I'm saying?

PS. Swimming burns more calories than most other forms of cardio and is no/low impact = healthy joints!