RANDOM THOUGHTS FROM A DISEASED MIND: PART I

Been locked away and bored at work the past few days.  Took the time to write down any thoughts as they came to me and present them here in their unedited, stream of consciousness form.  Here you can get an idea of the inner workings of my infected mind.  I was originally just going to post this in one shot, but when I finished typing it up it was over 3000 words, and it's unreasonable to expect people to read that much insanity in one shot, so I've broken it into two parts.  The second will be posted later.

-Don’t buy junk, won’t eat junk.

-I have never heard a strong person say the phrase “bad form.”

-Weak people focus on form, strong people focus on technique.

-I should have bought elbow sleeves years ago.  For the first time in years, my elbows are pain free.

-There is plenty of time to get stuff done when you get up at 0430.

-Not everyone who trains at 0500 is strong, but everyone who is strong at one point had to train at 0500.

-There is a direct relationship between how much water I drink and how painfree my hamstrings are.  Whenever I pull a hamstring, I drink more water and the pain goes away.

-If you read something with the intent of being offended and getting upset, you will.

-Taco Bell is still the best pre-workout supplement.

-Slamball tabata slams are an awesome conditioning exercise.  Hits everything, is an opportunity to get explosive, and requires minimal equipment.

-I started eating blueberries daily, just because I wanted to eat more fruit and it seemed like a good source.  Despite a lot of carb demonizing, I’m not putting on any weight.

This doesn't count

-I find it interesting that so many people speak out against touch and go deads because it will “make you weak off the floor”, but whenever I pull a max effort deadlift the bar leaves the floor very quickly and gets stuck right around my knees.

-I have never seen an instance of lower back rounding that was fixed by making the lower back stronger.  It is almost always a set-up issue, and as a result, easily remedied.  The same tends to hold true with most technique issues.

-I only ever tend to see small and weak people champion the idea that size and strength of an individual is irrelevant to that person’s ability to know how to become bigger and stronger.  I also tend to see big and strong people question the validity of that idea.

-When you make an argument, see who supports you.  If you don’t want to end up like those people, you will need to change what you think.

-I find it bizarre how many people will defend a program they either never ran or never personally experienced success with.

-The reason a reverse hyper costs two thousand dollars is because that’s how much it is worth.

-I apparently have developed a strategy of intentionally eating garbage carbs during my off season so that my body adjusts to this input while still maintaining my normal walk around weight.  This is basically an intentional dietary weak point, and once I need to cut weight for a comp, I just eliminate the junk and lose weight pretty effortlessly.

-I bought some beef protein powder, wondering how they managed to make it not taste like shredded beef jerky.  The answer: they didn’t.

-I find it funny when people who say “watching that made my back hurt” give advice on back health.  If you experience back pain from watching a video, your back is in terrible shape.

-The “never lift with a round back” crew has never seen atlas stone loading before.  I thought we did all this weight training in order to get our lower backs stronger so that it could do stuff like this.

"Bad form.  Better deload down to a pebble and start over."

-Whenever I need to change my clothes in a car, I question my decision to weigh 200lbs.

-I love abbreviated training, but these days, I suggest 5/3/1 or crossfit a bunch because I don’t think most trainees can successfully run such simple programs.  We all have ADD and a fear of losing our abs.

-One of my biggest regrets regarding training is never running Korte’s 3x3.

-I was really unsatisfied with the spud inc deadlift belt.  Its primary selling point was also its weakness to me.  The belt is very supple, but in turn, I don’t get any support from it.  My super stuff Inzer 13mm lever belt is still my go to.

-Reverse band squats are the perfect way to get stronger while rehabbing a hamstring injury.

-It’s such an odd era we live in where someone getting injured somehow invalidates their training methods.  I thought it was inevitable that anyone competing at the highest levels was going to get injured.  It’s simply a part of pushing the body to the limits.  I question how successful those that always avoid injury will manage to be.  It is the ability to recover from injuries and keep on pushing that makes a champion, not the ability to never get injured.

-Poptarts are the perfect competition day snack.

-If I treated my bench as seriously as I treated my deadlift, I might actually get somewhere.

-Everyone should read “Powerlifting Basics: Texas Style” at least once a year.

-Planet Fitness has committed no crimes.  They are very clear that they are not a gym.  Going there and breaking their rules only validates the stereotypes they have about you.

-I remember back when the “1,000lb Club” was for 1,000lb squatters.

-I have noticed that those who are fixated on what is and is not possible for natural trainees tend to be unimpressive, while those that think anything is possible seem to be doing alright.

-The best thing I ever did for my deadlift was stop deadlifting.

-The best thing I ever did for my physique was 5/3/1.

-3 reasons to lift: practice the lift, test the lift, and build the lift.

-I find it odd how, as gear becomes less popular, the sumo deadlift seems to be getting MORE popular.

-The sumo deadlift and conventional deadlift are NOT interchangeable.  They are different movements with different emphasis.  The only thing they have in common is their name, and if you had never heard of either movement and saw someone performing them in the gym, it would be obvious that they train different things.  People that try to train one like the other are ignoring this fact.  If your program calls for conventional deadlifts, it does so intentionally for the desired training effect of this movement, and swapping in sumos negates this.  And don’t get me started on the trap bar.

-If my deadlift ever stalls, I’m going to fix that with top down deadlifts.  It seems like the future of deadlift training to me.

-I think we as a people would have more success in our training if none of the movements had names.

-I don’t understand stories of people that sit in chairs for 8-9 hours a day in office jobs.  I’ve worked those jobs before, and I got up and moved around about every 20 minutes or so.  Somehow, I don’t need to foam roll and stretch before I lift.

-What is up with these kids making fitness memes and spouting off the same repetitive punchlines when they have achieved nothing?  The internet is too accepting.  Back in the day, you shut the f**k up until you had paid your dues.

-I don’t get the crossfit hate.  Crossfit has done nothing negative to me, but meanwhile, bumper plates, GHRs, decent bars, kettlebells and prowlers are everywhere.

-Ever notice how the people that want powerlifting to be unified want it unified under the STRICTEST ruleset?  If the goal is unity, you would want the loosest rules to prevent exclusion.  Multiply, monolifts and high squats is unity, mandatory raw is eugenics.

You want unity?  Learn to love this.

-I honestly hope powerlifting never gets unified.  Every weekend, I can find a meet within driving distance of me.  Tell me someone would willingly host a meet in Minot North Dakota under a big unified fed.  Meanwhile, with a million small feds, you’re sure to find a local enthusiast somewhere who just wants to put on a meet and share their love for the sport.

-How come everyone flips out about powerlifting gear in powerlifting, but no one seems to care when it’s in strongman?

-What’s up with people going to health and fitness clubs and then being upset that they aren’t gyms?  McDonald’s wasn’t lying to you when they refused to serve you steak.

-Competing was the best thing I ever did for my progress.  It helps me prioritize my training, knowing when to push and when to hold back.  Putting myself out there makes me want to get better and find ways to do it.  When all I ever did was train, I was way too happy to just spin my wheels.

-What is up with people needing to get angry and psyched up just to train?  What are you going to have left when it comes time to really shine?

-I know everyone says abs are made in the kitchen, but when my abs get bigger, it takes less to make them stand out.

-Clint Darden’s youtube channel getting deleted is one of the greatest tragedies to ever happen to lifting.

-It amazes me the things people are willing to spend money on versus the things they will pirate.  In an ideal world, people would buy books on lifting and steal pre-workout supplements.

-Steve Colescott of elitefts had the perfect put down.  Someone said they would do anything to train at elitefts, and he told them there were 7 Learn To Train Seminars this person could have attended at any time, so clearly he didn’t mean what he said.  Dreams dream, doers do.