MORE RANDOM THOUGHTS

Been stuck at a lot of presentations recently.  Had a chance to get down some thoughts.

-"Whether you say you can or you can't, you're right"

-I no longer care about science and just look at results.  Correlation is as good as causation to me if it means that same outcome.  Science is usually so far behind the guys in the trenches that, by the time it catches up, it's too late.

-How to design your own program: hit the lifts you want to make stronger, and then hit the lifts that make that lift stronger.

-Assistance lifts are just that: assistance.  If your main lift goes up and your assistance lifts go down, you succeeded.  If your assistance lifts go up and your main lift goes down, you failed.

-ROM progression will cure cancer.  I'm calling it.

-Even in a gym full of machines, I find myself drawn to the basics.  I think machines are good for small muscles, but I still want straight weight for my compounds.

-I have been doing over 200 chins every upper body day, 130 rows a week and 200 band pull aparts a day.  So far, no overtraining, but I AM getting bigger and stronger.

-I am away from my spouse for 9 weeks and thought I would live the life of an ascetic (no, not aesthetic).  I still go out to eat.  Environment isn't the factor, it's motivation.  With no meet in sight, I don't want it bad enough.

-On the above topic, going out to eat is no excuse to deviate.  Almost everywhere does salads, or burgers or wings or some form of meat or veggies.  If you want something tasty, that is fine, but be real about it.  You are your own worst limitation.

-Additionally, I can eat ok on the road by grabbing protein shakes and eating meat while tossing the bread at burger places.

-The only tricep work I do these days is pushdowns for prehab.  I am starting to think that, for a raw lifter, they have limited value compared to the chest and shoulders.

-My metabolism/insulin sensitivity/whatever makes diet easy honestly.  I pout on muscle and fat easily, which means, to put on muscle with limited fat, I simply eat more meat and veggies.  It is a boring approach, but being honest with myself and not force feeding myself carbs does the job just fine.

-The idea of being injured does not enter my head any more, let alone the fear of injury.  The idea of getting further inured isn't a concern once I get inured.  Bad things happen, but this is a long road, and an injury isn't even a blip.  If you want it bad enough, you will find a way to keep getting stronger.

-These days, I doubt the ability of a natural trainee to bulk, but I am still thankful that I tried in my early 20s.  A massive caloric surplus has to make you stronger, and that strength will be a boon when you go to train for body comp.

-My history goes as follows: follow common sense-stagnate-realize that is all wrong and defy every convention-stagnate-defy all of the conventions I created from before-realize I am following common sense.

-If I were to design a workout now, it would be all sets with no reps listed.  You will figure it out.

-On that topic, consider setting rep total goals that you shoot for in the workout rather than hard set reps and sets.  Volume is volume.

-If the only reason you do something is because you don't know why you shouldn't, stop doing it.

-Beginners need and crave structure because, left to their own devices, they will stay in their comfort zones and stagnate.  As you advance, structure becomes limiting and can suffocate your progress.

-If it takes more than a sentence to describe your current goal, you won't meet it.

-Let me kill the sacred cow on squat depth.  I don't see a need to hit depth in training.  The stretch reflex carries you from the hole to above parallel, and it's up to you to do the rest.  Think of it like firing a rocket out of a slingshot.  You wouldn't start the engines on the rocket while the slingshot was pulled back, you'd wait until it released it's energy.  I don't think you can make the reflex stronger, so I don't see why you need to train it, whereas spending time blitzing the "above parallel: portion will carry you the rest of the way.  ROM progression does this, as does squatting to your natural depth without forcing yourself to go any deeper.  I see this as reducing training injury and failure rate.